140 



Fishery Bulletin 91 1 



1993 



the stomachs, only six occurred in both the near- and 

 offshore areas (Tables 3, 4), including squids, skates, 

 skate egg cases, goosefish Lophius americanus, blue- 

 fish Pomatomus saltatrix, and Bothidae (flatfish). Sum- 

 marizing the prey into major food groups (Fig. 2) shows 

 that 43.0% (by frequency of occurrence) of the food 

 was composed of teleosts, followed by elasmobranchs 

 (16%), cephalopods (3.0%), and miscellaneous organ- 

 isms and trash (pebbles, seagrass, paper scraps; 5.0%). 

 The size of prey ingested appears to be an important 

 factor in its selection, since the majority of prey items 

 observed in the stomachs were small enough to be 

 swallowed whole. Those that were consumed as bite- 

 sized portions included larger skates, goosefish, blue- 

 fish, and smooth dogfish Mustelus canis and spiny dog- 

 fish Squalus acanthias. These food items were eaten 

 by the larger juveniles and adults only. Earlier reports 

 by Bigelow & Schroeder (1948), Springer (1960), Bass 

 et al. ( 1973), and Lawler ( 1976) also indicate that small 

 fish and invertebrates are most common in the diet. 

 Springer (1960) adds that fresh fish is preferred over 

 stale or decomposed fish and mammal flesh. 



Teleosts The food group 'All Teleosts' (Fig. 2) was 

 composed of species ranging from sedentary (goosefish) 

 to actively-swimming forms (bluefish, mackerel 

 Scomber scombrus). Flatfish (flounders) from the fami- 

 lies Bothidae and Pleuronectidae occurred with the 



highest (10.0%) frequency overall (Fig. 2). Predation 

 on these two families was most evident in sharks col- 

 lected nearshore (Table 3). Goosefish comprised the 

 second most-important fish in the diet by frequency of 

 occurrence (6.0%) and was consumed by juvenile and 

 adult sharks (Fig. 2). Goosefish remains varied from 

 small (4cmTL) to medium-sized (45cmTL) individuals 

 that were eaten in chunks. Remains of this prey item 

 occurred most often in sandbar shark stomachs col- 

 lected off the Long Island (NY) and New Jersey coasts. 

 Bluefish occurred in nine stomachs (S.O'X), seven of 

 which were from females captured nearshore. Gadids 

 consisted principally of hakes digested beyond species 

 recognition, except for one silver hake Merluccius 

 bilinearis that was relatively fresh. Scombrids occurred 

 in seven stomachs (Fig. 2) and consisted almost exclu- 

 sively of identifiable remains of common mackerel. The 

 occurrence of fast-swimming scombrid species in stom- 

 achs agrees with the reported occurrence of bonito 

 Sarda sarda [and weakfish Cynoscion regalis] by 

 Bigelow & Schroeder (1948). "Other Teleosts" (Fig. 2), 

 comprising 20.0% of the food by frequency of occur- 

 rence, is a group composed of at least 12 species from 

 Table 1, each occurring infrequently in the diet but 

 representative of local availability. Of this food cat- 

 egory, 14% (by frequency of occurrence) also included 

 fish remnants that could not be identified to family or 

 species. 



