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Fabio Olmos (São Paulo, Brazil) and colleagues have opportunistically registered a feeding association between one of the smallest procellariiform birds, Wilson’s Storm Petrel Oceanites oceanicus and Rough-toothed Dolphins Steno bredanensis off the south-east coast of Brazil. Their record was obtained as part of a citizen science project aimed at increasing the knowledge of local communities of seabirds and marine mammals.  Their findings have been published recently in the online version of Biota Neotropica.

The paper’s English abstract follows:

“On 06 October 2012 a pod of Rough-toothed Dolphins Steno bredanensis (Delphinidae) was observed catching and tearing apart several Castin Leatherjacks Oligoplites saliens (Carangidae) near Montão de Trigo Island, northern coast of São Paulo, Brazil.  The resulting floating masses of viscera attracted a feeding aggregation of 120-150 Wilson's Storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus (Hydrobatidae), a transequatorial migrant passing through the area during October.  This interspecific association has not been recorded before, although it could be expected given that S. bredanensis feeds on large fish and O. oceanicus is a known scavenger of kills made by cetaceans such as Killer Whales”.

Reference:

Olmos, F., Rotenberg, E. & Muscat, E. 2013.  A feeding association between Wilson's Storm-petrels Oceanites oceanicus and Rough-toothed Dolphins Steno bredanensis.  Biota Neotropica 13: 303-307.

Juan Pablo Seco Pon, ACAP South American News Correspondent, 29 September 2013