Table 1 .—A comparison of median values of body measurements of Anoplopoma fim- 

 bria larvae from station 25 with larvae from stations 20, 24, 34, 38, 50, 54, 70, and 

 71. The size range was 8.2-12.5 mm SL. 



1 P = probability that body measurements of station 25 larvae were equivalent with larvae from 

 stations 20, 24, 34, 38, 50, 54, 70, and 71, as determined by the Mann-Whitney test. 



2 The sample size was not constant within each group because some larvae were damaged prior 

 to the time measurements were made (e.g., some had lost eyes, the gut was separated from the body). 



Analysis of Gut Contents 



Examination of the gut contents of larvae <12.5 

 mm SL provided further evidence as to the starved 

 condition of the larvae at station 25. At this station 

 75% of the larvae (24 out of 32) had no food in their 

 guts, and 9% (3 larvae) had ingested 2 or fewer prey 

 items. In addition to being empty, the guts of lar- 

 vae collected at station 25 were shrunken, which is 

 reflective of poor feeding conditions (Nakai et al. 

 1969). At all other stations the incidence of empty 

 guts for larvae <12.5 mm SL was <1%, as was the 

 incidence of larvae ingesting 2 or fewer prey 

 items. 



Circumstantial evidence as to the cause of star- 

 vation comes from food analyses. It was apparent 

 that while sablefish larvae selected increasingly 

 larger prey as they grew larger, the minimum size 

 of prey eaten did not increase appreciably. By ex- 

 amining the widths of all prey items ingested by 

 larvae of different lengths (Fig. 2), three general 

 patterns emerged: 1) Larvae 8.2-12.5 mm SL prin- 

 cipally ingested the narrowest prey (0.01-0.10 mm 

 in width), 2) larvae 12.6-20.5 mm SL ingested 

 slightly larger prey (0.11-0.20 mm in width), and 

 3) sablefish 20.6-28.5 mm SL primarily ingested the 



largest prey (0.21-0.30 mm in width), although they 

 also ingested a broad range of prey sizes. 



Copepod nauplii were the dominant small prey, 

 and were all <0.20 mm wide. They accounted for 

 88.3% of the diet (by number) of small larvae (<12.5 

 mm). Based on prey-size selection alone (Fig. 2), it 

 appears that copepod nauplii may have also contrib- 

 uted substantially to the diet of larvae 12.6-20.5 mm 

 SL, but not to the diet of fish 20.6-28.5 mm SL. 

 Dietary analysis confirmed this, with nauplii com- 

 prising 26.9% of the diet of larvae 12.6-20.5 mm, 

 but merely 1.4% of the diet offish 20.6-28.5 mm SL. 



Considering the relative importance of copepod 

 nauplii in the diet of larvae 12.6-20.5 mm SL and 

 the fact that this size class continued to ingest 

 nauplii although capable of ingesting larger prey, 

 the frequency of occurrence of copepod nauplii in 

 the guts of these larvae was examined at each sta- 

 tion as inferential evidence of the abundance or 

 availability of copepod nauplii (Table 2). At station 

 25 only 27% of larvae 12.6-20.5 mm SL ingested 

 nauplii compared with 60-100% at all other stations; 

 the low frequency of occurrence of nauplii in guts 

 of these larvae at station 25 was obtained even 

 though no guts were empty. These data indicate that 

 copepod nauplii may not have been abundant or 



486 



