crabs, Cancer irroratus and C^. borealis ; caridean shrimp, Crangon septem - 

 spinosa and Dichelopandalus leptocerus ; the hermit crab, Pagurus acadianus ; 

 gammarid amphipod, Gammarus annulatus ; and the isopod, Cirolina polita . The 

 sand launce, A. americanus was the major species of fish identified in the 

 cod stomachs (25.7% and 20.8%). In two samples from cruise 77-01, Station 

 29, an oily material was found mixed in with the stomach contents. In the 

 first sample of nine fish, ranging in length from 41 to 45 centimeters, the 

 oily substance was found in one stomach of the gammarid amphipod, Gammarus 

 annulatus . In the second sample of six fish, ranging in length from 49 to 87 

 centimeters, the oily material was found on the gammarid amphipod, Anonyx 

 sarsi . 



The stomach contents of four species of Pleuronectiformes (flatfish) 

 were examined: the American plaice, Hippoglossoides platessoides ; winter 

 flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus ; windowpane, Scophthalmus aquosus ; 

 and yellowtail, Limanda f erruginea . Over 90% of the diet of the American 

 plaice consisted of polychaete worms of the family Aphroditidae. The five 

 winter flounder stomachs examined were empty. The windowpane was collected 

 on both cruises and in each case crustaceans were the major prey item, being 

 either primarily gammarid amphipod (90.2%) on cruise 76-13 or the caridean 

 shrimp, Crangon septemspinosa (41.6%) on cruise 77-01. The stomach contents 

 of the yellowtail were also comprised of a high percentage of Crustacea with 

 the major prey item being C^. septemspinosa (60.8%). Alewives, Alosa pseudo - 

 harengus , the only clupeid examined, fed almost exclusively on gammarid 

 amphipods (96.4%) of the genus Gammarus . 



The last group of fish examined were the cottids: the sea raven, Hemi - 

 tripterus americanus , and the longhorn sculpin, Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus ■ 

 The sea raven ate fish almost exclusively (99.3%). Over 98% of the stomach 

 contents of the longhorn sculpin were decapod crustaceans, with the major 

 prey item being the pandalid shrimp, Dichelopandalus leptocherus (65.6%). 



The food habits of the 16 fish examined in this survey differ little 

 from data previously collected on the food habits of the same species (Maurer 

 and Bowman, 1975; Bowman, 1975; Bowman et al., 1976). Only the data col- 

 lected on the American plaice and haddock appear to differ in terms of the 

 major prey item categories. 



The stomach contents of the American plaice consisted almost exclusively 

 of polychaete worms. However, only five fish were examined, of which three 

 had empty stomachs and one of the two remaining had eaten polychaetes. In a 

 larger sample of fish from southern New England and Georges Bank, Bowman et 

 al. (1976) have shown that the major food items are usually crustaceans or 

 echinoderms. Annelids are also a smaller part of the diet of these fish, 

 especially in southern New England, and it is likely that a larger sample 

 would have reduced the apparent significance of polychaetes in the diet of 

 American plaice. 



In the Georges Bank area haddock have generally been found to eat crusta- 

 ceans, molluscs, echinoderms, annelids, and fish (Wigley, 1956; Wigley and 

 Theroux, 1965) . The occurrence of large quantities of coelenterates in the 

 diet, as reported here, is apparently rare. The stomach contents of 21 



112 



