GABRIEL and PEARCY: FEEDING SELECTIVITY OF DOVER SOLE 



YAOUINA 

 SAY 



Figure l. — Location of sampling sta- 

 tions on the central continental shelf off 

 Oregon. 



440 



30' 



44° 

 00' 



124° 

 00' 



43° 

 30' 



for gastropods, pelecypods, amphipods, cuma- 

 ceans, and "noncylindrical" polychaetes iSternas- 

 pis fossor); otherwise, a simple milligram per cen- 

 timeter conversion factor was calculated for 

 polychaetes, aplacophorans, and scaphopods. For 

 each prey taxon, at least 10% of the total number 

 consumed or 20 individuals were dried and 

 weighed. Although formaldehyde and particu- 

 larly alcohol are known to leach out organic mate- 

 rial from biological specimens and to reduce the 

 weight of the organisms (Thorson 1957; Howmiller 

 1972), these estimates were assumed to be 

 adequate for estimating relative importance of 



prey taxa biomass. Dry weights of ophiuroids 

 overestimate the food value of these animals com- 

 pared with soft-bodied polychaetes. Therefore, 

 ash-free dry weight estimations were made for all 

 groups from conversion factors found in the litera- 

 ture and previous laboratory work for shell-free or 

 tube-free weights (Richardson et al."; Ruff^). 



^Richardson, M. D., A. G. Carey, Jr., and W. H. Colgate. 

 1977. The effects of dredged material disposed on benthic 

 assemblages off the mouth of the Columbia River In Final 

 report. Department of the Armv Corps of Engineers, p. 59. Con- 

 tracts DACW 57-75-C0137 andDACW 57-76-C-0092. 



**R. E. Ruff, School of Oceanography. Oregon State University, 

 Coi-vallis, OR 97331, pers. common. March 1978. 



751 



