However, Steele also remarked that fish were eaten in 

 addition to euphausiids by the larger (75+ cm) pollock. 

 The mean predator fork length for pollock taken in the 

 Gulf of Maine (Table 3) during the present study (66.4 

 cm) was greater than for the fish caught on either 

 Georges Bank (38.2 cm) or in Western Nova Scotia (44.6 

 cm). Accordingly, fish, especially Atlantic herring, were 

 much more important as prey for the Gulf of Maine pol- 

 lock than in either of the other two areas. In European 

 waters the food of pollock appears to be similar to that of 

 their American counterparts as they have also been 

 reported to prey heavily on euphausiids (Wagner 1959; 

 Mironova 1961; and see Nagabhushanara 1965 for a brief 

 review in tabular form). 



Silver hake.— Fish accounted for almost three-fourths 

 of the diet of silver hake, with crustaceans making up the 

 remaining prey (Table 1). Fish had previously been 

 recognized as the major prey of the silver hake by Bige- 

 low and Schroeder (1953). They described these pre- 

 dators as preying on herring or most any other smaller 

 schooling fish or even the young of almost any of the fish 

 commonly found in the Gulf of Maine. For example, 

 Nichols and Breder (1927) found 75 herring, 7.62 cm 

 long, in the stomach of a 59 cm silver hake. Bigelow and 

 Schroeder (1953) also noted that silver hake ate squid if 

 available while smaller hake fed on the shrimp Pandalus. 

 Jensen and Fritz (1960) reported on the diet of silver 

 hake collected in the northwest Atlantic. Expressing 

 their data as the frequency of occurrence of prey, they 

 also found that fish predominated in the stomachs of the 

 larger silver hake while crustaceans, mostly euphau- 

 siids, were more common in the stomachs of the smaller 

 fish. More recently, Vinogradov (1972) examined a total 

 of 42,515 silver hake stomachs collected from fish caught 

 in the northwest Atlantic. He also found that the smaller 

 hake preyed on crustaceans, especially euphausiids, with 

 a shift to fish as the major prey for hake >40 cm FL. 

 Interestingly, all of these authors have commented on 

 the cannibalistic nature of silver hake which was again 

 recognized in this report, especially for fish taken in the 

 Middle Atlantic (Table 4). 



White hake. — The white hake and red hake resemble 

 each other closely and the landings of these hakes have 

 only been reported separately since 1944. Therefore, 

 studies on the food habits of white hake alone are rela- 

 tively rare. Linton (1901 ) examined the stomachs of some 

 white hake but they were empty, and Hansen (1915) 

 found some euphausiids, Thysanoessa inermis, in the 

 stomachs he examined. Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) 

 consider the food of the two hakes together although they 

 specifically mention the occurrence of squid, crabs, 

 butterfish, mackerel, and flounder in the stomachs of 

 small white hake. Apart from the data given here (Table 

 1), which identifies white hake as being primarily pisci- 

 vorous, the only other recent reports discussing the food 

 of this fish are by Tyler (1971, 1972) and Petrov (1973). 

 Tyler (1971) observed seasonal changes in the distri- 

 bution and the diet of fishes in Passamaquoddy Bay, 



New Brunswick, Canada. White hake were present in the 

 bay during summer and autumn. For the smaller white 

 hake (total length range 15-26 cm) Tyler identified 

 mysids, amphipods, and euphausiids as principal prey 

 while the larger fish (28-45 cm) preyed upon shrimp, 

 euphausiids, and fish. The data reported here are gener- 

 ally for larger fish (average total = 46.4 cm FL, see Table 

 1) than those considered by Tyler and this may explain 

 our observation that white hake are primarily pisci- 

 vorous. Petrov (1973) collected food habits data for the 

 years 1969, 1971, and 1972 in ICNAF (International 

 Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries) 

 Subarea 3 which is north of our study area, off the 

 eastern coast of Canada. Petrov's data are based on a 

 subsample of the entire population and, although based 

 on frequency of occurrence, show very similar results to 

 those reported here (Table 1). He found that fish predo- 

 minated in the diet with crustaceans being of secondary 

 importance. 



Offshore hake. — Biological data on the offshore hake 

 is rare, and information on its food has only just become 

 available. Rohr and Gutherz (1977) described the off- 

 shore hake as an active predator, preying on crustaceans 

 and fish including other offshore hake. Juveniles were 

 found to prey heavily on shrimp while maturing adults 

 fed on fish, shrimp, and squid. The primary prey of 

 adults was fish, but they also preyed upon caridean 

 shrimp and squid. The offshore hake examined during 

 the course of the present study confirm the observations 

 of Rohr and Gutherz. The hake we examined preyed 

 heavily on fish but also consumed crustaceans (i.e., 

 caridean shrimp and euphausiids) and squid (Table 1). 



Cusk. — Cusk were identified as being primarily fish- 

 eaters, although crustaceans and echinoderms were also 

 important prey, but to a lesser extent (Table 1). The 

 cusk's piscivorous habits may be accounted for because 

 of its heavy reliance on fish as prey in Western Nova 

 Scotia (Table 7). In contrast, crustaceans made up 90% 

 of the diet in the Gulf of Maine (Table 7), but because of 

 the total weight of fish prey when all five geographic 

 areas are combined, crustaceans are of secondary impor- 

 tance (Table 1). Little comparative data exist on the food 

 of this animal, but it has been reported that crabs and 

 occasionally molluscs were found in the stomachs of 

 several cusk caught on Piatt's Bank in the Gulf of Maine 

 in 1924 (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953). Leim and Scott 

 (1966) also noted that the cusk eat crabs and molluscs 

 together with an occasional starfish. Our data confirm 

 these observations but add fish as an important poten- 

 tial prey. Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) mention that the 

 cusk is not fastidious as to the bait it will accept, taking 

 clams, cockles, and herring quite readily. The diversity 

 in the prey for the different geographic areas (Table 7) 

 tends to corroborate their observations, that is, the cusk 

 will prey on whatever animals are available. 



Red hake. — The dietary information summarized by 

 Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) is generally for both red 

 and white hake combined although they do mention one 



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