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Hermit crabs in the diet of Pigeon Guillemots at Kachemak Bay, Alaska

Michael A. Litzow·John F. Piatt·Jared D. Figurski
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Abstract

Guillemots ( Cepphus spp.) feed their chicks a diet that is almost exclusively fish. We observed Pigeon Guillemots ( C. columba ) at two colonies in Alaska where hermit crabs (Crustacea: Anomura) were a major part of the diet for some nestlings. Hermit crabs were delivered to three of five observed nests at one colony, comprised between 2% and 22% of the items delivered at those nests, and were the second most common food type at one nest. Hermit crabs may be an attractive prey item when lipid-rich forage fish are scarce, and crabs living in gastropod shells that have been softened by encrustations of Suberites sponges may be vulnerable to guillemot predation.

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BibTeXRIS

Michael A. Litzow, John F. Piatt, Jared D. Figurski. 1998. Hermit crabs in the diet of Pigeon Guillemots at Kachemak Bay, Alaska. https://doi.org/10.2307/1521913

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