NOTES Eggleston and Bochenek. Stomach content analysis of juvenile Thunnus thynnus off Virginia 391 



indicated that the logarithmically transformed volumes 

 were appropriate for ANOVA. 



Results 



Food analysis 



Of the 97 juvenile bluefin tuna stomachs examined, 72 

 (74%) contained food. These tuna averaged 21.3 kg 

 (n = 7, SD 7.7, range 15-39 kg) with a mean fork length 

 of 90 cm (ft = 85, SD 13, range 70-132 cm). Stomach 

 contents consisted of two primary food groups: teleosts 

 and cephalopods. Teleosts contributed over five times 

 the percent volume to the diet (82.8%) compared with 

 cephalopods (16.8%) (Table 1). Teleosts occurred in 

 91% of those stomachs containing food items and 

 accounted for 86% of the total identified prey items 

 (Table 1). Major subgroups of identifiable teleosts by 

 percent frequency of occurrence (based on number of 

 stomachs containing food), IRI, and percent IRI, listed 

 in decreasing order were sand lance, butterfish Pepri- 

 lus triacanthus, lined seahorse Hippocampus erectus, 

 and scrawled iWeixsh Aluterus scriptus (Table 1). Sand 



lance was the predominant teleost occurring in stom- 

 achs, especially considering that the unidentified tele- 

 ost category (probably primarily sand lance) contrib- 

 uted the greatest volume of all prey species found 

 (Table 1). 



Cephalopods occurred in 14.4% of those stomachs 

 containing food (Table 1). This group was represented 

 by two species, the Atlantic brief squid LoUiguncula 

 hrevis and the longfm squid Loligo peakii. Unidentified 

 cephalopod remains accounted for the lowest percent 

 volume (0.2%) of prey items in stomachs containing 

 food, whereas Atlantic brief squid contributed the 

 highest (12.9%) (Table 1). 



A third, miscellaneous prey category included salps 

 and one immature species of isopod. A cigarette wrap- 

 per and piece of Sa rgassum weed were each present 

 in two of the stomachs. 



The combined volumetric contributions of teleost re- 

 mains to the gut were significantly affected by area 

 of capture (ANOVA; F = 8.93, df 2, 82, P<0.0003). 

 Stomach contents of tuna landed from "21 Mile Hill" 

 had significantly higher volumes of teleost remains 

 than did stomachs taken from either the "Hot Dog" 



