is unavailable to the predator. Positive values imply 

 that the predator prefers the prey species or that it is 

 feeding on prey species which occur in a different 

 habitat than those sampled by the benthic sampler. A 

 value near zero implies no selectivity by the 

 predator; i.e., the fish is feeding on the prey in pro- 

 portion to the prey's relative abundance. 



Benthic samples and stomach collections were 

 pooled by depth zone (inner, middle, and outer shelf) 

 for comparison; however, too few tomtate for ade- 

 quate comparison were collected at outer shelf sta- 



tions. Benthic samples were obtained with diver- 

 operated suction sampler at the seven inner and mid- 

 dle shelf, hard bottom sites during the same time 

 periods in 1980 and 1981 as the fish collections were 

 made. The suction sampler is very effective at sam- 

 pling macroinvertebrates on hard substrates (Chess 

 1979; Wenner et al. 1983). Five replicate benthic 

 samples were taken during the six cruises at each 

 reef that was sampled for fishes, and these samples 

 (30 for each reef) are believed to be adquate repre- 

 sentatives of the hard bottom invertebrate fauna in 



Table 1.— Percent frequency occurrence (F), percent number (N), and percent volume (V) of food items in Haemulon aurolinea- 



tum stomachs collected at tiard bottom areas in 1980 and 1981. 



462 



