flounder (Table 1 ). Unfortunately, over half of these annelids could 

 not be identified below the phylum level (35.8%) or were attributed 

 to the occurrence of worm tubes (4.4%) in the fish stomachs. The 

 other 32.6% of the annelid remains were divided among 51 genera 

 of polychaetes representing 30 different families. Because of the 

 diversity of polychaete prey, few of these species contributed more 

 than a few percent to the diet. The more important polychaete prey 

 are Scalibregma inflatum (3.1 %), Lumbrineris fragilis (3. 1 %), Ster- 

 napsis (2.8%), Notomastus latericius (1.5%), Onuphis eremita 

 (1 .4%), Goniada (0.9%), Nephtys incisa (0.8%), Aphrodita hastata 

 (0.7%), Melinna cristata (0.4%), Pectinaria (0.3%), Onuphis 

 opalina(0.3%), P/iemso (0.2%), Ammotrypane aulogaster (0.2%), 

 Polyphysia crassa (0.2%), Capitella capitata (0.2%), Amphicteis 

 gunneris (0.2%), Eunice (0.2%), Ninoe (0.2%), Onuphis con- 

 chylega (0.2%), Maldane sarsi (0.1%), Nicomache lumbricalis 

 (0.1%), Ampharete acutifrons (0.1%), and Antinoella angusta 

 (0.1%). The remaining quarter of the diet was divided among 

 echinoderms (7.8%), arthropods (6.8%), molluscs (3.2%), and 

 unidentifiable animal remains (5.4%). Cnidaria (1.7%), Pisces 

 (0.6%), and other groups contributed little as prey of witch 

 flounder. Among the echinoderms, holothuroideans of the order 

 Dendrochirotida (5.7%) occurred most frequently in the stomachs. 

 Three genera in this order were identified: Thyone (3.6%), 

 Steroderma (0.6%), and Pentamera (0.4%). As a major taxon, 

 arthropods (6.8%) followed echinoderms in importance. Within 

 this phylum, amphipods (2.9%) were the single most important 

 group, and 11 different families were identified in the witch 

 flounder stomach contents. At the generic and specific level, only 

 Cammarus annulatus (0.3%), Tmetonyx (0.2%), Ampelisca 

 (0.1%), Unciola (0.1%), Casco bigelowi (0.1%), Maera (0.1%), 

 and Lep/oc/ie/'ruspOTgwis (0.1%) accounted for >0.1% of the diet. 

 Molluscs were the next major prey category, but they contributed 

 little to the diet (3.2%). The Cephalopoda were the most important 

 class in this phylum with regard to weight. Two squid, of the genus 

 Loligo, accounted for 2.2% of the diet. Although the bivalves were 

 not important on a weight basis (0.4%), eight different genera were 

 foimd in the witch flounder stomachs together with two genera of 

 gastropods. 



American plaice, Hippoglossoides platessoides. — American 

 plaice preyed primarily on echinoderms (65.4%) (Table 1). 

 Echinoids (42.6%) were the major group, with most of them being 

 identified as the sand dollar, Echinarachnius parma (38.1%), 

 although the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (1.3%), 

 accounted for some of the echinoid remains. Ophiuroids also con- 

 tributed a significant quantity to the diet (22.8%), and, in this 

 subclass, the genus Ophiura (12.3%) was the major contributor 

 with both O. sarsi (5.6%) and O. robusta (<0.1%) having been 

 identified. Arthropods (16.0%) were the second major taxonomic 

 group that was preyed on by American plaice. Pagurids (6.2%) and 

 pandalid shrimp (4.8%) were the two major families of crustaceans 

 found in the stomachs. Within the Paguridae both Pagurus acdi- 

 anus (6.0%) and P. pubescens (0.1%) were identified from the 

 stomach contents. The pandalids identified to species were 

 Dichelopandalus leptocerus (1.4%), Pandalus borealis (0.5%), and 

 P. montagui (0.2%). The only other group of crustaceans to contri- 

 bute >1% to the diet were the euphausiids (2.0%), and this was 

 almost exclusively due to Meganyctiphanes norvegica (1.9%). A 

 total of 1 1 genera of amphipods were identified in the stomachs 

 examined, but the group constituted a small percentage of the total 

 diet. The genera in the other crustacean groups that contributed at 

 least 0.1% to the diet were: Crangon (4.5%), Spirontocaris(0.\%), 



Pasiphaea (0.2%), and Balanus (0.1%). MoUusca (7.7%) followed 

 the arthropods as the third major taxa that was preyed on by 

 American plaice. The Bivalvia was the most important group, and 

 within this class 1 1 different genera were identified as prey. The 

 Iceland scallop, Chlamys islandica (1.3%), and short and broad 

 clams Yotdia spp. (3.6%), >'. sapolilla and Y. Ihraciaformis, re- 

 spectively, were the most important bivalve prey. Annelids contri- 

 buted a relatively small amount to the diet (4.4%). Nineteen differ- 

 ent genera were identified in the stomachs examined, but only 

 Melinna cristata (0.3%), Nephtys (0.3%), and Lumbrineris (0.2%) 

 contributed >0.1% of the total prey consumed. The remaining 

 taxa such as fish (1.0%), coelenterates (0.2%), and all other groups 

 (0.7%) contributed very little to the diet. 



YellowtaiJ flounder, Limanda femiginea. — Over 2,000 of the 

 yellowtail flounder stomachs that were examined contained prey, 

 and 79% of this prey was either annelids (42.0%) or arthropods 

 (37.2%) (Table 1). Over half of the annelids (25.5%) could not be 

 identified below the phylum level. However, 26 genera of 

 polychaetes were identified from the remaining 16.5% of the anne- 

 lid prey but most of these genera individually accounted for <0. 1% 

 of the diet. The more important genera are as follows: Eunice 

 (4.1%), Polydora (1.6%), Nereis (1.5%), Lumbrineris (1.0%), 

 Nephtys (1.0%), Aphrodita (0.5%), Arenicola (0.1%), Ammotry- 

 pane (0.1%), Scalibregma (0.1%), Ninoe (0.1%), Potamilla 

 (0.1%), and Nothria (0.1%). Amphipods (31.4%) were the single 

 most important arthropod group, but half of the prey attributed to 

 this group was actually amphipod tubes (15.8%). Three suborders 

 of amphipods accounted for the remainder of the group and are 

 listed in decreasing order of impoitance as follows: Gammaridae 

 (7.6%), Caprellidae (0.5%), and Hyperidea (0.1%). The Gam- 

 maridae were further broken down into the families: Corophiidae 

 (5.0%), Ampeliscidae (2.2%), Haustoridae(<0.1%), Lysianassidae 

 ( <0.1%), and Oedicerotidae ( <0.1%). The only other arthropod 

 group of any significance in the diet of yellovrtail flounder was the 

 family Cancridae (2.1%). The genus Cancer accounted for all these 

 remains, with both C. irroratus (0.3%) and C. borealis (<0.1%) 

 having been identified. The remaining 21% of the diet was divided 

 among the seven other major prey categories, and the only animal 

 to contribute > 1 % to the diet was the sand dollar, Echinarachnius 

 parma (l^Vo). 



Winter flounder, Pseudopkuronectes americanus. — Annelids 

 accoimted for 26.6% of the total stomach contents from the 769 

 winter flounder examined (Table 1). The remains were almost 

 exclusively polychaete worms with representatives from 26 different 

 families. Within these families, a number of different genera and 

 species were identified, and those constituting ^0. 1 % of the diet 

 are listed in decreasing importance as follows: Thelepus cincinnatus 

 (6.8%), Nicomache lumbricalis (0.8%), Ampharete (0.8%), 

 Ophioglycera gigantea (0.6%), Pherusa (0.5%), Nereis (0.4%), 

 Nephtys (OMo), Ninoe (0.2%), Lumbrineris (0.2%), Chone injun- 

 dibuliformis (0.2%), Nicolea (0.1%), and Scalibregma inflatum 

 (0.1%). Second to the annelids in importance were the Cnidaria 

 (26.3%). Two classes of coelenterates were identified as part of the 

 stomach contents, Anthozoa (22.2%) and Hydrozoa (4.1%). The 

 hydrozoans were not identified below class level, but some of the 

 anthozoans were identified at the subclass and order levels. A small 

 percentage of the anthozoans were identified only at the subclass 

 level Zoantharia (<0.1%), but within this subclass the order Acti- 

 naria accounted for most of the remains (13.0%). The only other 

 order of any significance, in the subclass Ceriantipatharia, was the 



