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Turning the Tables: Fish-Birds on the Menu

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The Aquatic World of Penguins

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Abstract

The basic law of the sea is that “Big Fish Eat Little Fish,” and penguins abide by that law. While much of what penguins do at sea involves their capture of creatures smaller than them (prey), as revealed in previous chapters (especially Chaps. 4 and 5), they also have to pay attention to the fact that they are neither “apex” nor even “top” predators, as they are oftentimes referred to. Penguins’ predators include seals, fur seals, sea lions, killer whales, and large fish (mostly sharks). What eats them to some degree depends on geography. In high latitudes, it is seals, in lower/middle latitudes, it is fur seals and sea lions, and at lowest latitudes, they may fall prey to sharks. Killer whales can be problematic, at least for larger penguins (more bang for the buck) regardless of latitude. Penguins have “rules of behavior” to avoid being eaten, which basically come down to seeing where they are going or looking carefully before they go anywhere. If a penguin knows a predator is present, they are very good at avoiding them.

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  1. HT Harvey and Associates Ecological Consultants, Los Gatos, CA, USA

    David G Ainley

  2. Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, UK

    Rory P Wilson

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Ainley, D.G., Wilson, R.P. (2023). Turning the Tables: Fish-Birds on the Menu. In: The Aquatic World of Penguins. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33990-5_12

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