FOOD HABITS OF 



YELLOWTAIL FLOUNDER, LIMANDA FERRUGINEA (STORER), FROM 



OFF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



Richard W. Langton 1 



ABSTRACT 



Stomachs of 1,021 yellowtail flounder caught in 1973-76 contained primarily polychaetes (43%) 

 and crustaceans (18%) as a percentage weight of total contents. The most important prey were 

 Spiophanes bombyx (9.68%) and Unciola sp. (13.65%). Predator size had little effect on diet com- 

 position whereas geographic distribution did. Spiophanes bombyxwas three times more important 

 as prey on Georges Bank than in southern New England, and amphipods were more important 

 in southern New England than on Georges Bank. From the middle Atlantic to southern New 

 England to Georges Bank the total weight of stomach contents increased from 0.12% to 0.14% to 

 0.21% of the fishes' body weight. Year-to-year differences were inconsistent; however, fish stom- 

 achs from spring cruises contained more food, 0.20%, than those from autumn cruises, 0.14% body 

 weight. During a composite 24-hour day, peak stomach content weight occurred in the afternoon 

 to early evening. Polychaetes accounted for less of the stomach contents at night while amphipods 

 increased in importance during the night. Sex of the fish had no effect on diet composition 

 although the stomachs of females were fuller than males, 0.15% vs. 0.11% body weight. Neither diet 

 composition nor the percentage of empty stomachs were related to gonadal maturity stages, but 

 stomachs from spawning fish contained the least amount of prey, 0.06%, while resting-stage fish 

 contained the most, 0.24% body weight. Over a 12°C temperature range there was little change in 

 diet composition, but between 3° and 8°C a greater percentage of stomachs contained prey and a 

 larger quantity of prey than between 9° and 15°C. Over a 220 m depth range the stomach content 

 weight increased with depth for smaller fish (<15 cm), while the percentage of empty stomachs 

 increased for larger fish (>21 cm). Diet composition showed the greatest effect of depth with S. 

 bombij.r dominating the diet in the 74-110 m depth zone (26.6% of the stomach content weight) and 

 Crangon septemspinosa, also being dominant in a single depth zone, comprising 39.6% of the diet 

 at 147-183 m. 



The yellowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea 

 (Storer), is a right-handed, thin-bodied flounder 

 that occurs along the eastern seaboard of North 

 America from Labrador to Chesapeake Bay 

 (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953; Royce et al. 1959). 

 It has contributed significantly to the total flat- 

 fish catch, primarily from southern New Eng- 

 land and Georges Bank, since about 1935 (Royce 

 et al. 1959; Sissenwine et al. 1978 2 ). Biological in- 

 formation has been summarized by Bigelow and 

 Schroeder (1953) and updated by Lux and Liv- 

 ingston (in press). These summaries qualitatively 

 describe the diet as consisting of small crusta- 

 ceans, worms, and molluscs. Quantitative work 



■Northeast Fisheries Center Woods Hole Laboratory, Na- 

 tional Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Woods Hole, Mass.; 

 present address: Maine Department of Marine Resources, Ma- 

 rine Resources Laboratory, West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575. 



2 Sissenwine, M. P., B. E. Brown, and M. M. McBride. 

 1978. Yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea): Status of 

 the stocks, January 1978. Northeast Fisheries Center Woods 

 Hole Laboratory Reference No. 78-02, 27 p. 



on the diet is limited. Inshore yellowtail flounder 

 have been examined by Libey and Cole (1979) off 

 Cape Ann in Massachusetts while Efanov and 

 Vinogradov (1973) surveyed the offshore feeding 

 pattern of yellowtail flounder in southern New 

 England and on Georges Bank. Langton (1979 3 ), 

 Grosslein et al. (1980), and Langton and Bowman 

 (1981) described the diet of fish from the middle 

 Atlantic to western Nova Scotia, and Pitt (1976) 

 conducted a study on the Grand Banks. These 

 papers generally agree that crustaceans, par- 

 ticularly amphipods, and polychaetes are major 

 prey items. However, the absolute quantities of 

 prey in the stomachs differ, being influenced by 

 both biological and abiotic factors. Only one of 

 the studies lists the stomach contents by predator 

 size (Pitt 1976) and none of the studies evaluate 

 comprehensively all factors influencing the diet 



Manuscript accepted June 1982. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 81, NO. 1. 1983. 



3 Langton, R. W. 1979. Food of yellowtail flounder, Li- 

 ma ndaferruginea( Storer). International Council for Explor- 

 ation of the Sea. CM. 1979/G:54, 10 p. 



15 



