Northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis), representing one of six pelagic surface feeding species within the scope of the project, are being instrumented with GLS and GPS loggers at 12 SEATRACK localities.
The Northern fulmar has been a SEATRACK species since the beginning of the programme in 2014.
Northern fulmars are considered “least concern” by the IUCN and are highly abundant in the North Atlantic with large populations.
The Northern fulmar, Arctic fulmar or simply fulmar is a highly abundant seabird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. Fulmars exhibit a polymorphism in colour, ranging from a light morph which is almost entirely white, to a dark one which is uniformly grey. Though similar in appearance to gulls, fulmars are in fact members of the Procellariidae family, which include petrels and shearwaters. The northern fulmar together with the southern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialodes) comprise the only extant species in the genus Fulmarus.
Northern fulmars are opportunistic feeders and although their main diet consists of fish, squid, and large zooplankton they also take discarded fish and carrion. They capture prey mainly at the surface but will occasionally dive as well. Northern fulmars tend to forage at marine upwellings and near ice sheets where high densities of large zooplankton can be found but often accompany fishing fleets, forming large aggregations feeding on discarded fish and waste.
Featured image: Tycho Anker-Nilssen.
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