Summer Hounder.— Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) described the 

 fluke or summer flounder as spending most of its life on the bot- 

 tom, i'ui they also describe it as a swift swimmer and very fierce and 

 active in the pursuit of prey. They reported that fluke will readily 

 chase prey fish to the water's surface. In a more recent publication, 

 Olla et al. (1972) confirmed this type of feeding behavior based on 

 aquarium observations, noting that the fish can feed as easily on the 

 b^ .to . a in the water column. The \ arious reports, and our 

 limited data, on the stomach contents of summer flounder cor- 

 roborate these obser\'ations. Ginsberg (1952) and Bigelow and 

 Schroeder (1953), for example, noted that the prey of fluke was 

 smaller fish, squid, crabs, shrimp, other crustaceans, molluscs, 

 worms, and sand dollars. Poole (1964, 1966) also cited many of the 

 same types of prey for summer flounder collected from the Great 

 South Bay, N.Y. In Poole's 1964 report the prey were identified to 

 species and, on a weight basis, Neoimsis ainericana was the major 

 prey. Mysids were followed in importance by three species of fish: 

 Synagnailuis fiisctis, Brevooriia lyraniius, and Anchoa iniichilU. 

 Other fish, molluscs, and crustaceans made up the remainder of the 

 diet. In Magothy Bay, Va., Kimmel (1973) also found that the 

 mysid, Neomysis ainericana, was the major prey for summer 

 llounder ranging in standard length from 4.2 to 47.6 cm. In another 

 study conducted by Milstein et alf off the New Jersey Coast, the 

 sand shrimp, Crangon seplemspinosa, ranked first in impxDrtance as 

 a percentage of the total prey volume in the stomachs of summer 

 flounder. Unidentified fish remains ranked second, Anchoa nni- 

 chilli was third, and Neomysis aniericana, fourth. The diets of three 

 size classes of flounder were also compared (0-20 cm, 20-30 cm, 

 and 30 + cm), and it was found that there was a size related shift in 

 diet such that more fish and less invertebrates were consumed as the 

 fluke increa.sed in size. They also observed a higher percentage of 

 empty stomachs (33%) in the larger fish. Our data, although limited 

 to the prey of eight fish because of the high percentage ol' empty 

 stomachs (Table 1), is for fish which on the average fall in the 

 largest of the three size categories mentioned above. It is not sur- 

 prising, therefore, that fish and .squid were the major prey. A more 

 extensive survey of summer fiounder would no doubt show that 

 their diet and habits are similar to those described in the various ex- 

 tant published repons. 



Fourspot flounder.— The fourspot flounder is similar in its 

 general appearance to the summer flounder, although it is a 

 much smaller fish. Their diets are also reported to be similar and 

 consist of small fish and squid, crabs, shrimps, bivalves, and 

 worms (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953). Other published data on 

 its feeding habits are rare. Sumner et al. (1913 a, b) listed the 

 food of the fourspot flounder around Woods Hole as consisting 

 of shrimps, amphipods, small crabs {Cancer), annelids, 

 molluscs, small crustaceans, and small fish. De Sylva et al. 

 (1962) examined the stomachs of eight fourspot flounder from 

 the Delaware River estuary and found that five of the stomachs 

 contained Crangon; two, Neomysis; and one, empty. Our data 

 were based on the examination of 1 ,096 stomachs from 98 sta- 

 stions and gave more details of the prey of this fish than those of 

 previous reports. Arthropods, fish, and molluscs were the three 

 major taxa preyed upon (Table 1). Pandalid shrimp, particularly 

 Dichelopandalus leptocenis, was of major importance within 



Milslcin, C. B., D. L. Thomas, ajid Av,oaates. 1976. Exological studies in the 

 bays and other waterways near Little hgg Inlet and in the ocean in the vicinity of the pro- 

 posed site for the Atlantic Generating Stauon, New Jersey. Progress report lor the 

 period January-December 1975. 572 p. Prepared lor the Public Service Electric and 

 Gas Company by IchtJiyological Associates, Inc.. 301 Forest Drive, Ithaca. NY 14850. 



the Arthropoda as were the decapod crabs in the family Cancri- 

 dae. Gadids such as Merluccius bilinearis were the primary fish 

 prey, and the cephalopod squid were the only molluscan group 

 of any significance in the diet. 



Windowpane. — Moore (1947) carried out an extensive study 

 on various aspects of the life history of windowpane. She 

 reviewed much of the earlier literature on the food of win- 

 dowpane and also conducted some additional stomach contents 

 analyses herself. The reports reviewed by Moore note the occur- 

 rence of fish and invertebrates, particularly mysids, in the 

 stomachs. Moore's own quantitative analyses showed that a 

 single species of mysid, Neomysis americana, was the predomi- 

 nant prey throughout the year in Southern New England. Sand 

 shrimp {Crangon seplemspinosa!) were second in importance, 

 and fish were quite unimportant. One interesting exception to 

 this general pattern was the occurrence of large numbers of 

 chaetognaths {Sagilta elegans) in the stomachs of windowpane 

 collected from deep water in one sample taken in February. 

 Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) also reviewed the earlier pub- 

 lished reports on the windowpane's dietary habits, noting the 

 occurrence of invertebrates and fish in the stomachs. They went 

 on to state that they suspected that small fish would be readily 

 preyed upon whenever available, which is in contrast to Moore's 

 observation. More recent papers by de Silva et al. (1962), 

 Richards (1963), Kimmel (1973), Stickney et al. (1974), and 

 Hickey (1975) support the conclusions of both Moore and 

 Bigelow and Schroeder. All of these papers concluded that 

 mysids, Neomysis americana, were a major prey, with Crangon 

 seplemspinosa usually being of secondary importance. Further- 

 more, Hickey (1975) discussed the diet of .S. aquosus in relation 

 to predator size and described a shift in diet from exclusively 

 small crustaceans to small crustaceans, fish, and decapods with 

 an increase in predator size. Our data (Tables 1, 4) are in agree- 

 ment with these reports. Throughout the northwest Atlantic, we 

 found that mysids, Neomysis americana, were a major prey. 

 Only on Georges Bank were mysids second in importance in the 

 diet, and here Crangon seplemspinosa was the major prey. In 

 addition to these two species, pandalid shrimp also contributed 

 significantly to the diet. Overall, pandalids were slightly more 

 important than sand shrimp (Table 1), but they were particularly 

 important in Southern New England (Table 4). Fish were 

 generally of minor importance but did account for > 10% of 

 the diet on Georges Bank (Table 4). Our data support the con- 

 clusion of Hickey (1975), which was that windowpane are 

 capable of feeding on a variety of swift-moving prey and 

 quailify as an opportunistic first-level carnivore. 



Witch flounder.— The witch flounder is a smallmouthed pleuro- 

 nectid that occurs on both sides of the northern Atlantic Ocean in 

 rather deep water. The food of witch flounder from the United 

 States and Canadian coasts has been described by Bigelow and 

 Schroeder (1953), Leim and Scott (1966), and Scott (1975). AU of 

 these reports list polychaete worms and small crustaceans as the ma- 

 jor prey, although molluscs and fish also occurred in the stomachs. 

 Rae (1%9) conducted the most complete study of the witch 

 flounder's dietary habits off Scotland from the Icelandic grounds. 

 Like the United States and Canadian stocks, polychaete worms 

 were the major prey group, providing more than half the diet on a 

 volumetric basis. Rae also observed a slight shift in diet with a 

 change in fish size. Crustaceans, particularly amphipods and cuma- 

 ceans, occurred more frequently in the stomachs of the smaller fish 

 (1 1-20 cm) than polychaetes, yet for all other size groups, up to 50 



13 



