Table 7. — Geographic breakdo^vn of the stomach contents of yellowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea, in the 

 northwest Atlantic. Data are expressed as a percentage Height for fish collected during the spring and autumn 

 bottom trawl survey cruises. 1969-72. ( + indicates present but <0.1%.) 



five geographic areas (Table 7). The smallest sample number for 

 any one area was 44 fish collected from 12 different stations. 

 Since the average fish size was also similar between areas, the 

 geographic comparisons should reflect true differences in the 

 prey of the fish from the different regions. 



In all five geographic areas, either annelids or arthropods were 

 the primary prey of yellowtail flounder. In four of the areas, 

 annelids were equal to or at least marginally more important as prey 

 than arthropods. Annelids accounted for the majority of all prey 

 consumed in Western Nova Scotia (81.1%). A single genus, 

 Eunice, accounted for two-thirds of the diet alone (66.8'Vo), while 

 no eunicids were eaten in any of the other four regions. The 

 majority of the other annelid prey in Western Nova Scotia were 

 either unidentifiable remains (6.8%) or identified at a family level as 



belonging to the Sabellidae (3.0%) or Taebellidae (1.3%). In the 

 four remaining regions, no single genus or species accounted for a 

 very large percentage of the prey. In fact, a large percentage of the 

 annelids could not be identified to below phylum. For example, on 

 Georges Bank 40.4% of the annelids were unidentified, and in the 

 other areas 23.2, 22.9, and 21.8% were unidentified because of 

 their stage of digestion in the stomachs of fish from the Gulf of 

 Maine, Southern New England, and the Middle Atlantic, 

 respectively. The polychaete prey that could be identified were: 

 Middle Atlantic— Spionidae (8.6%) [Polydora (7.3%)], polychaete 

 tubes (4.1%), Luinbrtneris (1.3%), Nepluhys (1.1%); Southern 

 New England— /Vereis (3.0%), Nephihys (1.7%), Aphrodiia 

 hastata (1.0%); Georges Bank— Spionidae (1.1%), Lwnbrineris 

 (1.4%); Gulf of Maine— Potamilla neglecla (2.6%). 



10 



