Predation of archival tagged Dolly Varden, Salvelinus malma, reveals predator avoidance behaviour and tracks feeding events by presumed beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, in the Beaufort Sea

Table 2 Qualitative prevalence, body temperature, feeding habits, and ability to dive to 48 m for two whale and two seal species in the eastern Beaufort Sea

Species	Prevalence in eastern Beaufort Sea during summer	Body temperature (°C)^a	Salmonid/Dolly Varden predation?	Feeding kinematics: likely to consume whole Dolly Varden?	Can undertake shallow foraging?^c	Can dive to 48 m?
Beluga whale	High [38, 87, 88]	35.8 (mean, n = 3) [89] 34.9–35.9 (range, n = 1) [90] 35.68 (mean, n = 2) [91]	Yes [56]/Yes [16, 54]	Yes [60]	Yes (surface) [46]	Yes [27, 43]
Killer whale	Rare [20]	36 (mean, n = 3) [89] 37.1–38.0 (range, n = 1) [92]	Yes [62, 93]/unknown	Yes [61]	Yes (surface) [52, 62]	Yes [53, 70]
Ringed seal	High [39, 40]	37.5^b [94]	Yes [95]/presumably (see Fig. 3)	No [11, 57, 59]	Yes (< 13 m) [96]	Yes [48]
Bearded seal	Moderate [40, 41, 97]	37.2 (36.8–37.3) (mean and range, n = 1) [98]	Yes [99, 100]/unknown	No [11, 57, 59]	Yes (< 7 m) [51]	Yes [41, 51]

^an is the number of animals examined in study
^bMeasured in wild ringed seal pups. Rectal temperature remained stable at 37.5 °C in the largest moulting pup after immersion in water. Rectal temperatures were 33 °C in pups with lanugo fur after immersion in water, but stabilized at 37.5 °C in air
^cBased on visual observations of surface foraging from the literature in beluga whales and killer whales, and the shallowest depths for inferred foraging behaviour from telemetry studies in ringed seals and bearded seals

ISSN: 2050-3385