larvae (0.3%), isopods (1.2%), and calanoid cope- 

 pods (0.2%) made up the remainder of the crusta- 

 cean prey. Items of little dietary importance to 

 pollock were polychaetes (0.7%) and fish ( +). 



Only one small pollock (4 cm FL) was collected 

 for stomach content analysis. The remainder of 

 the fish ranged from 15 to 20 cm FL. Since only 

 unidentified crustaceans were found in the stom- 

 ach of the 4 cm fish, no data are available to 

 discern at what length they first feed on the 

 benthos. 



Red Hake 



Crustaceans (90.1%) accounted for most of the 

 diet of red hake. The single most important 

 crustacean prey was the decapod shrimp Crangon 

 septemspinosa (40.6%). Pagurus sp. (0.4%) and 

 Hyas sp. (0.1%) were the only other decapods 

 identified in the stomach contents. Amphipod 

 prey (19.4%) included Oedicerotidae (5.9%), Coro- 

 phiidae (2.3%) [mainly Unciola sp. (1.9%)], and a 

 large percentage of unidentified Gammaridea 

 (7.1%). Euphausiids (6.4%), primarily 

 Meganyctiphanes norvegica (1.6%), and mysids 

 (3.6%) were the only other crustacean prey of 

 importance to red hake. Only small quantities of 

 copepods (1.3%), cumaceans (0.5%), and isopods 

 (0.1%) were found in the stomach contents. Poly- 

 chaeta (2.4%), Pisces (1.9%), Chaetognatha 

 (0.3%), Mollusca (0.2%), and Echinodermata (+) 

 contributed little to the food of red hake. 



Red hake 6 cm TL fed predominantly on benthic 

 foods such as Gammaridae, C. septemspinosa, and 

 Cumacea. The food of fish <6 cm TL was mostly 

 copepods and chaetognaths. Crangon septem- 

 spinosa, amphipods, and sand were found in the 

 stomachs of red hake 3 cm TL. 



White Hake 



White hake preyed almost exclusively on crus- 

 taceans (94.9%). Crangon septemspinosa (57.9%) 

 was of major dietary importance. Hermit crabs 

 (0.3%) were the only other decapod eaten. Amphi- 

 pods (15.4%) included Corphiidae {Leptocheirus 

 pinguis) (4.6%), Aoridae (2.0%), Hyperiidae 

 (0.5%), Pontogeneiidae (0.4%), Ampeliscidae 

 (0.3%), and Caprellidae (0.2%). Polychaete worms 

 made up 2.9% of the diet. 



The stomachs of the smallest white hake col- 

 lected (5 cm TL) contained sand and bottom living 

 animals such as gammarid amphipods. Plank- 



tonic organisms were not found in any of the 

 stomachs. 



Spotted Hake 



The most important prey of spotted hake were 

 Crustacea (85.9%). Amphipods (all identified as 

 Gammaridea) composed 77.1% of this juvenile 

 fish's diet. Other crustacean groups were calanoid 

 copepods (7.0%), small amounts of Crangon sep- 

 temspinosa ( + ), and hermit crabs ( + ). The only 

 other prey identified as part of the spotted hake 

 diet was the Chaetognatha (-H). 



Although only 16 spotted hake were collected, 

 the stomach content data showed that small 

 quantities of hermit crabs ( + ) were eaten by a fish 

 of only 4 cm TL (1 of 3 fish). Calanoid copepods 

 made up the rest of the stomach contents of the 4 

 cm fish and were found in all three stomachs. At 5 

 cm TL (seven fish) spotted hake were eating 

 bottom living organisms such as gammarid am- 

 phipods and Crangon septemspinosa (ap- 

 proximately 50% of their diet). 



Fourbeard Reckling 



Only one fourbeard rockling stomach contained 

 food (two of the three stomachs collected were 

 empty). Gammarid amphipods (33.3%) and small 

 quantities of hermit crabs ( + ) were the only 

 dietary items identified. The fish whose stomach 

 contained food was 9 cm TL. 



American Plaice 



Polychaeta (72.1%) was the primary prey of the 

 five specimens of American plaice which con- 

 tained food (10 fish were collected in total). Only 

 two families of polychaetes were identified, Cap- 

 itellidae (10.6%) and Sabellidae (2.9%). 



Crustacea (21.1%) and Mollusca { + ) made up the 

 remainder of the prey identified in American 

 plaice stomachs. The crustacean dietary 

 components were gammarid amphipods (17.3%), 

 mysids (3.8%), small amounts of copepods [iden- 

 tified as Centropages sp. ( + ) ] , cumaceans ( + ), and 

 hermit crabs ( + ). The molluscan ( + ) portion of the 

 diet was identified as Dentalidae. 



Worms (Sabellidae) and other benthic organ- 

 isms, such as cumaceans and dentalids, made up 

 most of the diet of the smallest American plaice 

 collected (4 cm TL). 



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