380 



Fishery Bulletin 94(2), 1996 



predominantly benthic inhabitants. Other prey, such 

 as the blackwing searobin, Prionotus rubio, rock sea 

 bass, Centropristis philadelphica, Atlantic cut- 

 lassfish, Trichiurus lepturus, longspine porgy, 

 Stenotomus caprinus, and blackcheek tonguefish, 

 Symphurus plagiusa, are essentially demersal. The 

 variety of the diet in this study suggests that juve- 

 nile cobia often feed in the water column and possi- 

 bly near the surface but primarily on or near the sea 

 floor, exhibiting opportunistic feeding behavior com- 

 parable to that reported for adults (Meyer and 

 Franks, 1996). 



Acknowledgments 



Special thanks go to Ian Workman, Dan Foster, Rob 

 Caylor, and Mark Grace of the National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service, Pascagoula, Mississippi, for providing 

 the specimens of juvenile cobia, as well as the field 

 collection data, examined in this study. We thank 

 Dianne Scott and Amber Garber for their assistance 

 in the processing of stomachs. Appreciation is ex- 

 tended to Robin Overstreet, Harriet Perry, Gabriele 

 Meyer, and Guillermo Sanchez for their help in the 

 identification of stomach contents. Lisa Engel as- 

 sisted in data entry. We also thank Robin Overstreet, 

 Chet Rakocinski, and Patricia Biesiot for reviewing 

 earlier versions of the manuscript and offering help- 

 ful comments. We also greatly appreciate the con- 

 structive comments and suggestions of two anony- 

 mous reviewers. Funding for this study was provided 

 by the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, the Mississippi 

 Department of Marine Resources, and the Department 

 of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Federal 

 Aid for Sportfish Restoration Project F-91. 



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