Table 5.— Geographic breakdown of food of the white hake, Ifro- 

 phycis tenuis, in the northwest Atlantic. Data are expressed as per- 

 centage weight, for fish collected during the spring and autumn 

 bottom trawl surve.v cruises 1969-72. (Middle Atlantic = no samples; 

 + indicates present but <0.1%..) 



POLYCHAETA 0.1 0.1 



Nereidiformia + 



Terebelliformia - 



Sabelliformia — 



Other Polychaeta 0.1 



CRUSTACEA 3.7 29.4 



Amphipoda 



Mysidacea 



Euphausiacea 



Pandalidae 



Crangonidae 



Axiidae 



Paguridae 



Majidae 



Cancridae 



Other Decapoda 



Other Crustacea 

 MOLLUSC A 11.6 3.8 



Gastropoda + 



Pelecypoda — 



Cephalopoda 11.6 



Other MoUusca — 



ECHINODERMATA 



Echinoidea — 



Ophiuroidea — 



Other Echinodermata - 



PISCES 83.3 62.5 



Clupeidae 



Gadidae 



Scombridae 



Scorpaenidae 



Bothidae 



Pleuronectidae 



Other Pisces 

 Other groups 0.1 + 



Animal remains 1.2 4.0 



Sand and rock - 0.2 



0.3 



0.5 

 0.3 

 0.2 



1.8 

 0.6 



+ 



0.1 



0.1 



2.3 

 21.7 

 1.1 

 0.1 

 0.4 



0.4 



1.9 

 1.4 



+ 

 + 



3.5 

 0.3 



01 



21.1 



0.1 



0.3 



10.4 



+ 

 -H 



6.4 



10.7 



0.1 



-I- 



0.2 



3.0 

 0.9 



+ 

 + 

 0.2 



0.4 



76.5 



18.1 

 16.6 



48.6 



27.6 

 17.8 



17.5 

 1.1 

 9.6 

 1.1 



17.1 47.2 



O.I + 



2.0 2.3 



+ 0.1 



0.1 



0.2 



0.1 



-I- 



2.9 



4.3 



0.4 



0.1 



+ 



1.9 

 0.7 



0.4 



+ 



86.5 



0.8 

 25.7 



4.7 



55.3 



Tabic 6.— Geographic breakdown of food of the offshore hake, Afcr- 

 luccius albidus, in the northwest Atlantic. Data are expressed as 

 percentage weight, for fish collected during the spring and autumn 

 bottom trawl survey cruises l%9-72. (Gulf of Maine and Western 

 Nova Scotia = no samples; + indicates present but <0.1%.) 



Prey 



Middle 

 Atlantic 



Southern 

 New England Georges Bank 



POLYCHAETA 



Nereidiformia 



Terebelliformia 



Sabelliformia 



Other Polychaeta 

 CRUSTACEA 



Amphipoda 



Mysidacea 



Euphausiacea 



Pandalidae 



Crangonidae 



Axiidae 



Paguridae 



Majidae 



Cancridae 



Other Decapoda 



Other Crustacea 

 MOLLUSCA 



Gastropoda 



Pelecypoda 



Cephalopoda 



Other Mollusca 

 ECHINODERMATA 



Echinoidea 



Ophiuroidea 



Other Echinodermata 

 PISCES 



Clupeidae 



Gadidae 



Scombridae 



Scorpaenidae 



Bothidae 



Pleuronectidae 



Other Pisces 

 Other groups 

 Animal remains 

 Sand and rock 



100.0 



3.2 



14.0 



62.5 



37.5 



0.8 

 1.6 



0.8 



5.1 



1.5 

 6.4 



6.1 



5.1 



96.7 



73.8 



22.9 



80.4 



Number of stomachs 4 



Percentage of empty stomachs 25.0 

 Mean weight per stomach (g) 0.1 

 Mean predator fork length (cm) 31.3 

 Number of sampling stations 2 



taceans of note were euphausiids, and these primarily in 

 the Gulf of Maine, where Meganyctiphanes (3.5%) was 

 the most important species. 



sand lance (2.9%), and longhom sculpin (0.2%), are most 

 of the other fish that were identified. 



Crustacea was generally the second most important 

 taxonomic grouping except in Southern New England 

 where Cephalopods (11.6'e) such as Loligo (6.5%) were 

 preyed on. In the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank 

 three species of pandalid shrimp were eaten, Dichelo- 

 pandalus leptocerus (0.1% in the Gulf of Maine and 3.5% 

 on Georges Bank), Pandalus borealis (3.9% in the Gulf of 

 Maine and 0.4Sc on Georges Bank), and P. montagui 

 (0.5% in the Gulf of Maine and 0.2% on Georges Bank). 

 In Western Nova Scotia P. propinquus (0.2"^ o) was also 

 present but P. borealis was not. The only other crus- 



Offshore hake, Merluccius a<bi<f«s.— Stomachs were 



collected from offshore hake in three of the five geo- 

 graphic areas (Table 6). In the Middle Atlantic, data 

 were collected from only four fish, and therefore a dis- 

 cussion of the food in this area is of little value. Suffice it 

 to say that the two species of Crustacea eaten, Meganyc- 

 tiphanes norvegica and Pasiphaea sp., were also preyed 

 upon in the other geographic areas. In Southern New 

 England and on Georges Bank, the composition of the 

 diet was very similar. In both areas fish was the major 

 prey group (96.7% in Southern New England and 80.4% 

 on Georges Bank); however, the particular species offish 

 could not be identified. Crustaceans were of secondary 



11 



