Szedlmayer and Lee: Diet shifts of Lut/anus campechanus 



369 



Open Habitat n=346 

 Reef Habitat n=443 

 Empty n=850 



QD=- 



■i~~ r i T i i 

 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 

 Size class (mm SL) 



Figure 3 



A comparison of red snapper {Lutjanus campechanus) length frequencies between 

 open and reef habitats in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Gray bars = empty stomachs 

 from both habitats. 



snapper collected from the reefs varied by site (from 11 to 

 249 fish), but large samples were collected from at least 6 

 different reefs (Table 1). Large sample sizes were collected 

 during most months over open habitat, with the exception 

 of November 1994 (n=12), and for most months (6 out 



of 9) from reef sites (Table 2). Only red snapper stomachs 

 containing prey were used in our analyses. 



Red snapper diets showed 55 different prey identi- 

 fied to the lowest possible taxon. In general, red snap- 

 per diets were dominated by fish (43%), squid (29.5%), 

 shrimp (16.4%), and crabs (4.4%; Table 3). Specifically, 

 the "shrimp" group included Mysidacea (mysid shrimps), 

 Stomatopoda (mantis shrimps), Penaeidea (penaeid 



