Diet of Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821), in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Cetaceans can be considered good natural samplers of biodiversity due to the different hunting strategies they adopt. In this study, stomach contents 28 Tursiops truncatus (15 females and 13 males), stranded along Tuscany coasts, NW Mediterranean, between 2008 2021, were analyzed. The prey items identified at lowest taxonomic level possible, assessed in terms abundance, weight, frequency occurrence. index relative importance (IRI) was also computed. Overall, 2201 bony fishes 406 cephalopods identified. trophic spectrum resulted high diversity (69 taxa) species, 53 16 cephalopods, live levels water column. Predation mainly based on European hake, Merluccius merluccius (%IRI 26.9), conger eel, Conger 25.1). abundant presence nocturnal such as Ophidion, indicates activity bottlenose dolphin. Furthermore, evidence is presented dolphins’ ability capture fish night, taking advantage sound produced by these locate them. Diet did not show any statistical differences among sexes, except that preyed upon a significantly higher quantity octopods than males.