Penguins Caught on Camera Eating Jellyfish and Other Gelata
Dr. Jean-Baptiste Thiebot, a marine biologist at the National
Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo, Japan, and colleagues have
documented nearly 200 cases of targeted attacks on jellyfish and other
pelagic gelatinous organisms (‘gelata’) by four penguin species: Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae), yellow-eyed penguins (Megadyptes antipodes), Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), and little penguins (Eudyptula minor).
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| The jellyfish Diplulmaris antarctica and the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) swim in the Antarctic waters near Dumont d’Urville station in December 2015. Image credit: Pierre Chevaldonné / CNRS / IPEV. |
“Video logs confirmed that penguins targeted gelatinous animals for meals; the birds did not merely ingest them accidentally, while aiming for fish or other prey. Connecting this link in the food web helps us understand the ecological niche of gelata,” the researchers said.
“Gelata may play an underrated role in the carbon cycle,” Dr. Thiebot added.
“Though gelata pack a relatively low caloric punch, a diet of them can sustain large animals such as sea turtles and ocean sunfish. Penguins, warm-blooded animals with high energetic demands, can now be added to the list of confirmed jellyvores.”
Using miniaturized animal-borne video loggers, Dr. Thiebot and co-authors gathered a substantial video dataset (over 350 hours of footage) from 106 individual penguins across regions of the southern oceans.
“We estimate that gelatinous organisms provide more than 1% of the daily energy needs for Adélie, Magellanic, and yellow-eyed penguins, and up to 2% for little penguins,” the biologists said.
“Penguins appeared to selectively target the carnivores among the gelata, which include species of true jellyfish (Cnidaria) and comb jellies (Ctenophora).”
“All four penguin species enjoyed true jellyfish, consuming 187 species. Magellanic and little penguins also ate 11 comb jelly species.”
“Vegetarian gelata species known as salps, filter feeders more closely related to humans than jellyfish they resemble, are also common gelatinous denizens of the southern oceans,” the scientists added.
“These little jet-propelled jelly tubes feed on phytoplankton, the floating, green, single-celled organisms that get energy from light, like plants. In the congregational phase of their lives, they form great chains, tubes, and wheels, sometimes 60 feet long.”
“Although salps appeared on video, penguins did not pursue them.”
The study is published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
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