FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72. NO. 2 



species were selected which seasonally account 

 for the majority of bothids captured by otter 

 trawling and were thus judged to be important 

 in the energy flow through the Georgia estuarine 

 ecosystem. The four species chosen were A. 

 quadrocellata; bay whiff, Citharichthys spilop- 

 terus; E. crossotus\ and windowpane, Scophthal- 

 mus aquosus. Other important Pleuronectiform 

 fishes of the Georgia coast include P. dentatus, 

 P. lethostigma, Trinectes maculatus, and Sym- 

 phurus plagiusa. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



The coastal region of Georgia consists of a 

 system of barrier islands separated by sounds 

 from which a network of rivers and tidal creeks 

 emanate. The tide range (reaching nearly 3 m 

 on spring tides) coupled with the low relief of 

 the barrier islands and coastal plain results in 

 extensive areas of intertidal marshlands. The 

 marshes are dominated by Spartina alterniflora. 



Flounders were collected by otter trawl and 

 cast net from Wassaw Sound, Ossabaw Sound, 

 St. Catherines Sound, and Sapelo Sound, and from 

 various locations in rivers above the sound limits 

 (Figure 1). Most of the fish utilized in this study 

 were captured during 1971 and 1972 by personnel 

 from the Savannah Science Museum and Skid- 

 away Institute of Oceanography. Others were 

 donated from collections made by workers at the 

 University of Georgia Marine Institute during 

 1968. Whole fish were preserved in 10% Formalin^ 

 after capture. 



Location, date of capture, and standard length 

 were recorded for each specimen used in the study. 

 The stomachs were removed, and their contents 

 examined under a dissecting microscope. Or- 

 ganisms found within the stomachs were identi- 

 fied to species when possible and counted. Para- 

 sitic nematodes and trematodes were found in 

 many stomachs but were excluded from the food 

 habit data. 



In many instances identifications of food or- 

 ganisms were made from pieces of animals found 

 within stomachs. In most cases these pieces pro- 

 vided enough material for specific identification, 

 but in those cases where decomposition made 

 identification to species impossible, the material 

 was identified to the class or family level. Few 



^ Reference to trade names does not imply endorsement by 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 



cases were found in which the stomachs contained 

 completely unidentifiable organic material. 

 Emphasis was placed on correctly enumerating 

 the organisms found in stomachs. Neither bio- 

 mass nor volumetric displacement data were 

 obtained. Since food items were often identified 

 from parts of an individual (the remainder having 

 been either digested or not actually ingested), 

 it was felt that any estimate of biomass would 

 have little significance. 



Many stomachs contained pieces of polychaete 

 annelids which had apparently been nipped off 

 by the fish in their feeding activities. Since it 

 was not possible to reconstruct these fragments 

 into whole animals, heads were counted. Counts 

 based on fragments of organisms cannot be con- 

 sidered completely accurate; however, such food 

 organisms often accounted for a relatively small 

 fraction of the total stomach contents. The or- 

 ganisms which made up the numerical bulk of 

 the food were usually in good condition, facilitat- 

 ing exact counting. 



One of the more important organisms found, 

 Neomysis americana, has not been reported from 

 as far south as Georgia by many previous authors, 

 although it has been reported from the stomachs 

 of two species of Gadidae, Urophycis regius and 

 U. floridanus (Sikora, Heard, and Dahlberg, 1972). 

 The reported range oiN. americana is from the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence to Virginia (Tattersall, 

 1951; Wigley and Burns, 1971). This range was 

 extended to near the northern South Carolina 

 border by Williams (1972) who also reported that 

 N. americana was common in North Carolina. 

 The range is presently again being extended by 

 A. B. Williams (pers. commun.) who has examined 

 and verified examples of A^. americana from our 

 collections. 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



Overall Evaluation 



Data summarizing the food of each of the four 

 bothid species are presented in Table 1. Organ- 

 isms are excluded which were not present in at 

 least V7c of the stomachs examined in any of 

 the four species of fish or which did not account 

 for 1% or more of the total food organisms found 

 in the stomachs of one or more of the species of 

 fish. A complete list of food organisms recovered 

 is presented in the Appendix. 



516 



