WATSON and DAVIS: LARVAL FISH DIETS IN SHALLOW COASTAL WATERS 



ber 1979, mainly in midwater, seaward of the 12 

 m isobath (Table 1). Most of the larvae were Pr 

 stage (82%). Eighteen percent of the larvae dis- 

 sected contained food, similar to the 21% night- 

 time average noted in the day/night comparison. 

 There was no clear cross-shelf pattern in feeding 

 incidence (Table 3), but a vertical pattern may 

 have been suggested by the lower incidence in 

 the neuston (3.4 ± 8.3%) and higher incidences 

 in midwater (22.5 ± 9.2%) and epibenthos (13.3 

 ± 20.5%). Although the average feeding inci- 

 dence for the Pr larvae (14.7 ± 1.1%) was less 

 than half that for the FP larvae (33.3 ± 20.9%), 

 it still was contained within the broad confidence 

 bounds about the FP value. 



Tintinnids, bivalve veligers, and copepods 

 were among the most important prey for larval 

 Paralabra.v spp. (Table 7). Unidentified items 

 (including invertebrate eggs and setae — pre- 

 sumably from polychaete larvae) constituted the 

 major dietary component for the Pr larvae. 

 However, tintinnids (Stenosomella spp.) and 

 bivalve veligers also were important. The FP 

 larvae tended to consume larger items, espe- 

 cially copepods (e.g., Acartia tonsa Euterpina 

 acutifrotis , and Oithona oculata). Both the Pr 



and the FP larvae typically contained few prey 

 items (Table 7). 



Genyonemus lineatus 



A total of 1,222 larval white croaker were ex- 

 amined from samples collected between October 

 1978 and June 1979, and in September 1979 

 (Table 1). Fifty-five percent of the larvae were 

 Pr stage. Nearly all of the larvae contained food: 

 feeding incidence was 92.8% (±2.0%) for the Pr 

 larvae and 95.6% (±1.0%) for the FP larvae. 

 Feeding incidence was high in all strata and all 

 cross-shelf blocks (Table 3). For both larval 

 stage categories, feeding incidence in the neus- 

 ton was distinctly lower (75.0 ± 4.8%) than it 

 was in midwater (94.5 ± 1.6%) and epibenthos 

 (96.2 ± 0.7%). There was little evidence of a 

 cross-shelf gradient in feeding incidence for 

 either stage category (Table 3). 



Larval white croaker consumed a wide variety 

 of prey types (Tables 8, 9). Pr larvae tended to 

 eat smaller items, particularly tintinnids, bi- 

 valve and gastropod veligers, and small cope- 

 pods, especially all stages of Euterpina acuti- 

 jfrons (Table 8). The FP larvae consumed these 



flexlon-postflexion stage larvae are below. A blank column Indicates that no larvae contained food occurred in that stratum. Water 

 a given food category; %F0 = the percent of larvae containing food items that contained prey of the given category. Copepods 



577 



