Bob:
This looks like typical foraging activity on salmonids. You can actually see
the adipose fin in one photo securing ID. Sea lions bite and fling the fish to
kill them and to tear them apart to eat and this scatters lots of bits of flesh
etc that the gulls fight over. That's a decent size salmonid to swallow whole,
but since this is a Steller sea lion they are capable of swallowing larger
fish. I’ve seen them feeding on big longnose skates and that takes a lot of
bites and flinging around to get a stomach full.
Roy
On Nov 24, 2020, at 10:26 AM, Robert O'Brien <baro@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I've often seen a small group of offshore gulls suddenly congregate over an
area as if a feeding opportunity.
This typically doesn't last long and I've wondered what was going on.
Perhaps small 'bait' fish were forced to the surface by predatory fish below?
Yesterday i was high enough on Barview Jetty to observe.
In this case, not big fish after small fish. A big mammal (or 2) after big
fish.
In the top left panel the Sea Lion has apparently bit and shook the fish (a
salmon? I've been wrong with fish ID before).
This results in parts of the fish being flung, giving gulls an opportunity.
I've seen that in the Columbia River.
A better approach? Simply swallow the fish whole? The photos, taken several
minutes apart, show different fish.
Bob OBrien Carver OR
<SeaLion&FishCollage.jpg>
