NOTE Abitia-Cardenas et al.: Food habits and energy values of prey of Tetrapturus audax 
363 
Table 1 
(continued} 
Prey 
FO 
% FO 
n 
% n 
Vol. 
% Vol 
IRI 
% IRI 
Coryphaena hippurus 
Mugilidae 
1 
0.28 
i 
0.04 
180 
0.09 
0.04 
0 
Mugil spp. 
1 
0.28 
i 
0.04 
290 
0.15 
0.05 
0 
Sphyraenidae 
Sphyraena ensis 
Scombridae 
1 
0.28 
2 
0.07 
680 
0.35 
0.12 
0 
Auxis spp. 
10 
2.85 
83 
3.09 
7,870.5 
4.06 
20.38 
0.49 
Scomber japonicus 
Tetraodontiformes 
159 
45.43 
382 
14.26 
49,778.5 
25.69 
1,814.93 
43.63 
Balistidae 
Batistes polylepis 
18 
5.14 
164 
6.12 
4,844.5 
2.5 
44.31 
1.06 
Xanthichthys mento 
Diodontidae 
1 
0.28 
1 
0.04 
no 
0.06 
0.03 
0 
Diodon spp. 
1 
0.28 
1 
0.04 
27 
0.01 
0.01 
0 
Total 
1,837 
68.55 
167,021 
86.18 
3,356.09 
80.66 
Unidentified organic matter 
1 
0.28 
145 
0.07 
0.02 
0 
Percent index of relative importance 
G> 
CL 
1 Scomber japonicus 
2 Sardinops caeruleus 
3 Etrumeus teres 
4 Dosidicus gigas 
5 Merluccius productus 
6 Auxis spp. 
7 Decapterus hypodus 
8 Fistularia spp. 
9 Batistes polylepis 
1 0 Selar crumenophthalmus 
1 1 Pteurocodes planipes 
Percent frequency of occurrence 
Figure 2 
The major prey species found in the stomachs of striped marlin pre- 
sented as percentages of number of individuals, volume, frequency of 
occurrence, and IRI. 
number of five prey species: D. gigas, S. 
japonicus, S. caeruleus, E. teres, and M. 
productus. 
Calorimetric analysis 
The energy content of the most important 
prey of striped marlin as wet, dry, and ash- 
free dry weights, is given in Table 3. Val- 
ues ranged from 3.42 kcal/g dry weight for 
red crab, P. planipes, to 6.14 kcal/g dry 
weight for the cornet fish, Fistularia spp. 
The ANOVA showed that the caloric val- 
ues of the 11 most important prey were 
significantly different (,F=904.3; df=10; 
P=2.3E-26). When the means of the caloric 
values were compared by P-method, a sig- 
nificant difference was obtained (a=0.05) 
(Fig. 3). 
Caloric percentages of the 11 major prey 
types (Fig. 4), indicate two species, S. ja- 
ponicus (32.4% ) and S. caeruleus (21.2%), 
contributed 53.7% of the total calories to 
the diet of striped marlin. 
Discussion 
Food habits 
Previous studies have shown that striped 
marlin mainly consume prey that school 
near the surface. Such prey are generally 
