FISHERY BULLETIN; VOL. 79. NO. 4 



RESULTS 



Feeding Habits of Dover Sole 



Dover sole off the Oregon coast in midsummer 

 fed most often on polychaetes, although a surpris- 

 ingly large proportion of the diet consisted of 

 ophiuroids (Table 1). At station SG29, polychaetes 

 occurred in 97.3% of stomachs examined, and 

 composed 43% of the total ash-free dry weight of 

 stomach contents examined. Ophiuroids occurred 

 in 63.0% of the stomachs, made up 41% of the 



ash-free dry weight of stomach contents at that 

 location. At station SGIO, polychaetes occurred in 

 83.6% of the stomachs examined and constituted 

 11% of total ash-free dry weight of stomach con- 

 tents examined, while ophiuroids occurred in 80% 

 of those stomachs, composing 84% of ash-free dry 

 weight of the diet at SGIO; otherwise, crustaceans 

 and molluscs made up <6% of biomass consumed. 

 The largest proportion of polychaete biomass 

 consumed was derived from Pectinaria califor- 

 niensis and members of the families Glyceridae 

 (SG29: Glycera capitata, SGIO: Glycinde picta), 



Table l. — Percentage of frequency of occurrence, numerical abundance, dry weight, and ash-free dry 

 weight that polychaetes, molluscs, crustaceans, and ophiuroids composed in Dover sole stomachs at SG29 

 and SGIO. 



'Ophiuroids excluded from total, since this organism was nearly always found as uncountable fragments of arms. 

 ^Includes Ostracoda, Copepoda, Pencarida, and Eucarida. 



Table 2. — Frequency of occurrence of polychaete families in Dover sole, and percentage 

 composition of polychaetes found in stomachs on numerical and dry weight bases at SG29 

 and SGIO. 



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