SEDBERRY: FEEDING HABITS OF WHITEBONE PORGY 



of the three depth zones (Table 3). Rather, 

 whitebone porgy fed selectively on hard-shelled 

 invertebrate species that were collected only 

 occasionally, or not at all, in suction and gi-ab 

 samples. Many of these prey species are appar- 

 ently more common in sand bottom habitat (see 

 Discussion). 



Whitebone porgy displayed a relatively high 

 similarity in diet to red porgy and sheepshead; 

 overlap in diet with pinfish and southern porgy 

 was low (Table 4). 



DISCUSSION 



Published information on the diet of Calamus 

 leucosteus is lacking. Randall (1967) and Darcy 

 (1986) reported on the food habits of several 

 other Atlantic species of Calamus and noted a 

 high incidence of shelled invertebrates such as 

 mollusks, crabs, and echinoids in their diets. 

 Randall (1967) also noted that those Calamus 

 spp. which fed on hermit crabs were largely gas- 

 tropod feeders as well and that sipunculids 



Table 3. — Relative abundance (percentage of total number of individuals) and electivity values (E) for dominant benthic 

 species in suction and grab samples and in whitebone porgy stomactis. Dominant species include those that ranked in 

 the five most abundant species within stomach or benthic samples in any depth zone for collections pooled for all 

 seasons and years. 



Table 4. — Percentage of similarity in diet (Bray-Curtis index) between sparid 

 fishes collected from hard bottom habitats. 



Species 



C. leucosleus L. ihomboides P. pagrus S. aculeatus 



A. probatocephalus 

 C. leucosteus 

 L. rhomboides 

 P. pagrus 



0.182 



941 



