of prey, a meaningful discussion of areal differences in 

 food is unwarranted. Table 2 adequately summarizes the 

 available information. 



Longnose grenadier, Coelorhynchus car- 

 minatus. — As has been described for the marlin-spike, a 

 meaningful discussion of the areal differences in food is 

 not justifiable because of the small number of fish ex- 

 amined and the small quantity of prey in the stomachs. 



Fawn eusk-eel, Lepophidium cervinum. — Fawn 

 cusk-eel were collected in significant numbers in the 

 Middle Atlantic and Southern New England but the 

 total quantity of prey in the stomachs amounted to only 

 3.27 g. An areal breakdown of their food is therefore of lit- 

 tle value, especially since almost 1 g of the total weight 

 was due to a heavy infestation of parasitic nematodes 



(37.1'c) in the fish collected in the Middle Atlantic. For a 

 summary of the food see Table 2. 



Ocean pout, Macrozoarces americanus. — Ocean 

 pout were collected in all areas but were most abundant 

 in Southern New England and on Georges Bank (Table 

 11). In these two areas the major prey was echinoderms, 

 with the sand dollar being the single most important 

 species (54.4'^t in Southern New England and 61.6'c on 

 Georges Bank). In Southern New England, crustaceans 

 (22.0' () amd polychaetes (7.8' <) made up most of the 

 remainder of the prey. Amphipods (13. 1"^), such as Un- 

 ciola sp. (1.0'f) and Leptocerus pinguis (1.2'(), were 

 important, as were the rock crabs (5. 4';:), particularly 

 Cancer irroratus (2.0'f ). The majority of the polychaete 

 prey was identified as Aphrodita (7.4' c). On Georges 

 Bank, crustaceans (4.3%) were of little significance and 



Table II.— Geographic breakdown of food of ocean pout, Macrozoarces americanus. in (he northwest Atlan- 

 tic. Data are expressed as percentage weight, for fish collected during the spring and autumn bottom trawl 

 survey cruises 1969-72. (+ indicates present but <0.17(.) 



16 



