NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS F/NWC-2 (1980)

Abstract

The food of the Pacific white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens, and Dali’s porpoise, Phocoenoides dalli — collected off California and Washington in 1958-72 — is compared with food of the northern fur seal, Callorhinus ursinus. The 3 species are opportunistic feeders, preying primarily on small schooling fishes and cephalopods. Species identified for the first time as prey of the Pacific white-sided dolphin are: Pacific lamprey, Entosphenus tridentatus; salmon, Oncorhynchus spp., including pink, O. gorbuscha, chum, O. keta, and coho, O. kisutch; California Lanternfish, Symbolophorus californiensis; king-of-the-salmon, Trachipterus altivelis; medusafish, Icichthys lockingtoni; rockfish, Sebastes spp.; Pacific sanddab, Citharichthys sordidus; squids, including Abraliopsis sp., Octopoteuthis sp., Gonatopsis borealis, Onychoteuthis borealijaponicus, Chiroteuthis sp., Cranchidae; and the pelagic octopus, Ocythoe tuberculata. Listed as prey of the Dali’s porpoise for the first time are: eulachon, Thaleichthys pacificus; Pacific saury, Cololabis saira; Walleye pollock, Theragra chalcogramma; Pacific sand lance, Ammodytes hexapterus, Pleuronectids; and the squid, Octopoteuthis sp., Berryteuthis magister and Gonatopsis borealis.