Cephalopod remains from the stomachs of Sperm whales caught off Peru and Chile

One thousand cephalopod lower beaks from random samples of the stomach contents of four Sperm whales caught off Peru and Chile are identified and/or described. Non-random samples of stomach contents from 10 whales were also examined. The size of the lower beaks is used to estimate the mean and the total weight of the cephalopods of each taxon identified. The three most numerous species are Histioteuthis sp. i (50%), Chiroteuthis sp. A (16%) and Octopoteuthis sp. (9%) while the greatest weight of flesh is contributed by Histioteuthis sp. A₁ (56%), Dosidicus gigas (32%) and Vampyroteuthis infemalis (3%). Lower rostral length frequency distributions are compared with those that have been constructed for other regions. Antarctic species of cephalopods represented by beaks show that two female and one male whale probably moved north from much further south immediately prior to being shot off Peru in November, December and February.