Food Habits
Marbled murrelets feed below the water surface on small fish and invertebrates. Some principal foods include sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus), Pacific herring (Clupea haringus), capelin (Mallotus villosus), and the invertebrates Euphausia pacifica and Thysanoessa spinifera.
Marbled murrelets often forage in pairs but do not feed in large flocks as do other alcids. Loose aggregations of 500 or more birds occasionally occur in winter. DNA tests have shown that the foraging duos are not necessarily breeding pairs. Subadults feed singly; but in early July, when pairs of adults are still feeding young, mixed flocks begin to form. Marbled murrelets feed during the day and at night.
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