proportion of fish prey in the diet increased as the 

 fish grew larger. This change in food habits was ac- 

 companied by an increase in the mean weight of 

 stomach contents as a percent of body weight 

 (Tables 3, 4). Thus, on the average, the stomachs of 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 81, NO. 3 



large fish contained more food, as a percent of body 

 weight, than the stomachs of small fish (see especial- 

 ly the mean values for fish with nonempty stomachs, 

 last three columns in Tables 3 and 4). 

 In silver hake, the "other prey" category was im- 



TABLE 3.— Mean weight of stomach contents of silver hake, in 10 cm length classes, during spring and fall. BW = body weight. 



TABLE 4.— Mean weight of stomach contents of Atlantic cod, in 10 cm length classes, during spring and falL BW = body weight. 



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