FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO. 2 



Table 5. — Continued. 



Species 



Jan -Feb 



March 



April 



May 



June 



1971 



Pepnlus alepidotus 

 P. triacanthus 

 Scorpaena brasiliensis 

 S. calcarata 

 Bellator militaris 

 Pnonotus evolans 

 P. ophryas 

 P. roseus 

 P. scitulus 

 P. salmonicolor 

 P. tnbulus 



Ancylopsetta quadrocellata 

 Bothus sp. 



Citharichthys macrops 

 Cyclopsetta fimbriata 

 Etropus microstomus 

 E. nmosus 



Paralichthys albigutta 

 P. dentatus 

 P. lethosligma 

 P. squamilentus 

 Scophthalmus aquosus 

 Syacium papillosum 

 Gymnachirus melas 

 Trinectes maculatus 

 Alutera schoepfi 

 A. scriptus 

 Balistes capnscus 

 Monacanlhus hispidus 

 Lactophrys quadncornis 

 Sphoeroides dorsalis 

 S. maculatus 

 S. spenglen 



Chilomycterus antillarum 

 C schoepfi 



Subtotal 

 Total 



— — — — 4 1 1 — — — 1 — 

 20 120 281 149 534 312 135 105 478 115 215 81 



178 129 



69 



421 



995 



718 



411 



309 



studies. Of those tagged, Paralichthys dentatus 

 (184 specimens), Monacanthus hispidus (107), 

 Raja eglanteria (92), Stenotomus aculeatus (77), 

 Balistes capriscus (66), Centropristes striata (57), 

 Mustelus canis (41), Ancylopsetta quadrocellata 

 (40), Aluterus scriptus (35), and Paralichthys 

 lethostigma (35) accounted for 74.3%. Of the 985 

 fishes tagged, 17 (1.7% ) were recaptured involving 

 11 species: Centropristes striata, Balistes capris- 

 cus, Aluterus schoepfi, Centropristes ocyurus, 

 Calamus bajonado, Monacanthus hispidus, 

 Paralichthys albigutta, P. dentatus, Rhinoptera 

 bonasus, Raja eglanteria, and Stenotomus acule- 

 atus. Paralichthys dentatus and Balistes capris- 

 cus accounted for 6 and 2 of the recaptures respec- 

 tively, while all others were single recaptures. 

 Most recaptures were returned from near their 

 release point on the bed. The longest period at 

 liberty was 8 days. This, in the light of the intense 

 fishing of the 13 boats that composed the 1972 fleet 

 and the few recaptures, suggested that the fish 

 population over the scallop bed was large, con- 

 stantly moving, and subject to constant recruit- 

 ment from elsewhere. 



Stomach analysis of 1,655 of the 33 most fre- 

 quently encountered fishes (Table 6) revealed that 

 the stomachs of most of the fishes over the bed 

 usually contained food even though all samples 

 were made only during daylight hours; 89.4% had 

 scallops or other food as part of the stomach con- 

 tents. Sphoeroides maculatus, Stenotomus acu- 

 leatus, Diplectrum formosum, Orthopristes 

 chrysopterus, Monacanthus hispidus, Balistes 

 capriscus, Centropristes striata, Mustelus canis, 

 and Sy nodus foetens (in descending order of 

 species whose stomachs contained scallops) were 

 found to be scallop predators (Table 6). Small as 

 well as large individuals of these species had parts 

 or whole scallops in their stomachs and digestive 

 tracts (Table 6). These species fed either by crack- 

 ing the scallop shell with their beaklike jaws 

 (Balistes, Sphoeroides) or by finding dying or 

 cracked (possibly a result of the fishing activity) 

 individuals (Stenotomus, Diplectrum, Ortho- 

 pristes). It was surprising that bottom feeders of 

 the families Bothidae (Paralichthys albigutta, P. 

 lethostigma), Soleidae (Trinectes maculatus), 

 Rajidae (Raja eglanteria), Labridae (Hemip- 



438 



