Acta Adriatica, Vol. 64 No. 2, 2023.
Short communication, Note
https://doi.org/10.32582/aa.64.2.2
Cephalopods preyed on by loggerhead turtles, Caretta caretta (Reptilia: Cheloniidae), from the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea
Giambattista Bello
*
Flegra Bentivegna
Andrea Travaglini
; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Department of Marine Animal Conservation and Public Engagement, Naples, Italy
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
This study presents the results of the examination of cephalopod remains extracted from the digestive tract of 40 loggerhead turtles, Caretta caretta, stranded along the Campanian coasts (Southern Italy, eastern Tyrrhenian Sea). We retrieved the remains of 23 cephalopods from 16 turtles (frequency of occurrence = 40%). They belonged to Sepia officinalis (19 specimens) and Octopus vulgaris (2 specimens), both of them benthic neritic species, and Histioteuthis reversa (2 specimens), an oceanic species. Accordingly, loggerheads appear to feed both on the bottom, seemingly in shallow waters, and in the open seawater column; both on muscular items (S. officinalis and O. vulgaris) and ammoniacal ones (H. reversa). This is the first record of H. reversa as a prey of the loggerhead turtle.
Keywords
Mollusca; Cephalopoda; Reptilia; Chelonidae; feeding ecology; Mediterranean Sea
Hrčak ID:
305869
URI
Publication date:
11.7.2023.
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