Intrinsic and extrinsic sources of variation in the diets of harp and hooded seals revealed by fatty acid profiles

Individuals of different age, sex, and morphology are expected to exhibit differences in dietary niches largely owing to sexual dimorphism, ontogenetic niche shifts, and resource polymorphism. Harp (Pagophilus groenlandicus (Erx-leben, 1777)) and hooded (Cystophora cristata (Erxleben, 1777)) seals are geographically overlapping and highly migratory predators in the North Atlantic Ocean. These species differ in their diving behaviour, with hooded seals diving deeper, longer, and more associated with the continental shelf edge and deep ocean than harp seals. We examined blubber fatty acid (FA) composition (N = 37; 93% of total FA by mass) of harp (adults N = 294; juveniles N = 232) and hooded (adults N = 118; juveniles N = 38) seals to test hypotheses about sources of intrinsic (age and sex) and extrinsic (geographic location, season, year) variations in diets. A significant difference in FA profiles suggested dietary segregation between species. We found significant effects of sex and age class on FA profiles, with these being more pronounced in the highly size-dimorphic hooded seals than in harp seals. FA profiles of both species also varied between inshore and offshore sampling locations and between prebreeding and postbreeding periods. Finally, FA profiles of harp seals differed among years, which was coincident with large changes in prey distribution and availability in the mid-1990s.