A taste for squid
The diet of sperm whales stranded in Greece,
Eastern Mediterranean
This study expands the available knowledge using analysis of the stomach contents from nine individuals stranded in Greece between 2005 and 2014. 48,166 prey remains were examined in total and 28,258 of them were identified to show that sperm whales fed on 18 prey species (17 cephalopods and one teleost) from 14 different families. 15 of these species were deep-sea squids, which are not presently targeted by fisheries. sperm whales inhabiting the Greek Seas and likely the whole eastern Mediterranean Sea, appear to target prey that are easy to catch, but need to be consumed in great numbers to fulfil the energy requirements of the whales.
