![]() Cephalopod ecology, however, is still poorly understood as observational studies often give highly uncertain and variable results due to the peculiarities of cephalopod behaviour and biology, and their responsiveness to external drivers. Furthermore, these results confirm that mercury bioaccumulates continuously throughout the individuals’ life, with adults doubling their mercury concentrations to juveniles.Ĭephalopods, especially squids, are believed to have a structuring role in marine ecosystems as a link between different trophic levels, primarily due to their voracious prey consumption and high production rate. Mercury values in the anterior (1.3–7.9 μg kg) subsections of the hood reflect juvenile and adult stages, respectively. Distinct total mercury concentrations in the different subsections support that beaks can be used to study mercury levels in different periods of cephalopods’ life-cycle. ![]() tip of the rostrum and subsections along the hood). Using upper beaks of the giant warty squid Moroteuthopsis longimana (major prey in the Southern Ocean), we describe a method to assess mercury concentrations along the life of cephalopods through the segmentary analysis of beak sections (i.e. Due to the general difficulties in capturing oceanic squid, beaks found in the diet of top predators can be used to study their life-cycles and ecological role. Cephalopods represent an important pathway for mercury transfer through food webs.
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