Description
This article is from the Dolphin
FAQ, by Jaap van der Toorn with numerous
contributions by others.
2.8 What and how much do dolphins eat?
Bottlenose dolphins eat several kinds of fish (including
mullet, mackerel, herring, cod) and squid. The compostion of
the diet depends very much on what is available in the area
they live in and also on the season.
The amount of fish they eat depends on the fish species they
are feeding on: mackerel and herring have a very high fat
content and consequently have a high caloric value, whereas
squid has a very low caloric value, so to get the same energy
intake (calories) they will need to eat much more if they feed
on squid than if they feed on mackerel or herring.
On average an adult dolphin will eat 4-9% of its body weight
in fish, so a 250 kg (550 lb) dolphin will eat 10-22.5 kg
(22-50 lb) fish per day.
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