101 Animal Shots You'll Go Wild Over [LiveScience 2013-06-07]
Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
Hungry, Hungry Puffin
Credit: © Science/AAAS
Yum, anchovies. Actually, this generous puffin meal is made up of sand lances, little fish commonly found in the North Pacific and North Atlantic. Sand lances and other "forage fish" are critical to the survival of seabirds like this puffin. According to new research published Dec. 23 in the journal Science, seabirds need about a third of the fish in the sea to maintain their current lifestyles. That information is important because it gives researchers a sense of how much overfishing will affect animals that depend on the ocean for dinner. |
