Drift diving by hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.

ABSTRACT: Many pinniped species perform a specific dive type, referred to as a 'drift dive', where they drift passively through the water column. This dive type has been suggested to function as a resting/sleeping or food processing dive, and can be used as an indication of feeding success by calculating the daily change in vertical drift rates over time, which reflects the relative fluctuations in buoyancy of the animal as the proportion of lipids in the body change. Northwest Atlantic hooded seals perform drift dives at regular intervals throughout their annual migration across the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. We found that the daily change in drift rate varied with geographic location and the time of year and that this differed between sexes. Positive changes in buoyancy (reflecting increased lipid

SUBMITTER: Andersen JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4106908 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature