The Australian sea lion has breeding colonies in southern and western Australia. It forages near the sea floor, and females return to their birth colony to breed.
Adult males are dark brown with a mane of long, coarse hair on the neck. Adult females are silvery gray on the back, with a cream to yellow underside.
Researchers collected 36 Australian sea lion scat samples from five sites spanning 1,500 kilometres of southwest Western Australia. They analysed DNA in the samples to identify foods. The results covered more than 80 prey taxa across six classes and three phyla, including fish, cephalopods and crustaceans. The prey detected in the samples varied among many of the coastal locations.
Octopus was detected in 21 samples and the giant Australian cuttlefish, Sepia apama, in 25; both appeared across multiple sites. Southern calamari squid and western rock lobster were also identified in some samples. DNA analysis of scat recorded foods eaten by sea lions across a wide coastline, including prey that are difficult to observe while the animals forage underwater.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
A scat DNA study compared Australian sea lion prey across five sites over 1,500 kilometres of southwest Western Australia. Researchers detected more than 80 prey taxa, including fish, cephalopods and crustaceans, and found dietary differences among many locations. Octopus and Sepia apama appeared in 21 and 25 samples, respectively, while southern calamari squid and western rock lobster were also recorded. Most identified fish prey were associated with reefs, seagrass or the rocky and sandy seabed. The study provides a regional view of the marine foods used by this wide-ranging predator.