FISHERY BULLETIN; VOL. 72, NO. 4 



Figure 14. — Mynpnstis murdjan, a squirrelfish, aggregated under a coral ledge during the day. 



sunset) contained food, whereas 8 of 9 that were 

 collected from shelter sites during the afternoon 

 were empty (the ninth specimen, collected during 

 late afternoon, had only well-digested fragments 

 in its stomach). Items in the 17 individuals con- 

 taining identifiable material are listed in Table 

 17. 



Hiatt and Strasburg (1960) found shrimp frag- 

 ments in M. murdjan (reported as M. benidti) in 

 the Marshall Islands, and suspected nocturnal 

 habits, as did Randall (1955) for this species in 

 the Gilbert Islands. 



CONCLUSION.— MjTJpns^is murdjan is a noc- 

 turnal planktivore that takes mostly crab 

 megalops and other crustaceans. 



Myripristis amaenus (Castelnau) 



This squirrelfish, which congregates during the 

 day in large caves cut into reefs exposed to an 

 open-sea swell, is very similar to the preceding, M. 

 murdjan, but is less numerous in most Kona 

 habitats. Its behavior during twilight was de- 

 scribed earlier (Hobson, 1972, as M. argyromas). 



Table 17. — Food of Myripristis murdjan. 



940 



