764 
Fishery Bulletin 96(4), 1998 
Table 6 
Food items found in stomachs of bonefish, Albula vulpes , caught in 
Florida Bay (rc=130) and on the ocean side (n = 144) of the Florida Keys. 
Stomachs from all bonefish 480 to 699 mm FL collected during all 
months are included. W = percent weight; F = percent frequency of 
occurrence; N = percent numerical abundance. 
Taxon and 
prey item 
Florida Bay 
Ocean side 
W 
F 
N 
W 
F 
N 
Annelida 
Polychaeta 
0.62 
34.62 
34.22 
1.63 
52.08 
32.72 
Mollusca 
Gastropoda 
1.86 
33.85 
4.94 
2.83 
32.64 
3.52 
Bivalvia 
2.68 
28.46 
3.00 
2.02 
24.13 
1.85 
Crustacea 
Stomatopoda 
0.35 
3.85 
0.24 
3.85 
19.44 
0.73 
Decapoda 
Penaeidae 
8.30 
35.38 
6.72 
4.30 
15.97 
1.35 
Alpheidae 
5.13 
40.77 
11.93 
14.12 
60.42 
13.16 
Hippolytidae 
0.38 
32.31 
11.38 
0.33 
23.61 
2.81 
Majidae 
1.97 
4.62 
0.28 
4.45 
9.72 
0.67 
Portunidae 
17.06 
23.85 
2.96 
5.00 
14.58 
0.60 
Xanthidae 
33.53 
63.08 
10.94 
27.78 
52.78 
4.64 
Chordata 
Teleostei 
21.25 
56.92 
7.43 
24.87 
43.75 
2.31 
Batrachoididae 
Opsanus beta 
18.94 
48.46 
5.85 
19.87 
25.00 
1.19 
fish smaller than 440 mm, although crabs 
of the genus Portunus were eaten in large 
numbers by one 435-mm bonefish. 
There was evidence of a seasonal effect 
on diet, but small sample sizes during some 
seasons in each of the respective sampling 
areas reduced our ability to detect signifi- 
cant differences. Colton and Alevizon 
(1983) also found seasonal differences in 
feeding in Bahamian bonefish. Bivalves 
were eaten more during the summer by 
bonefish of all lengths, whereas small bone- 
fish (<416 mm) ate more portunid crabs 
during the winter. They also noted habi- 
tat-related differences in bonefish feeding. 
Penaeid shrimp were eaten almost exclu- 
sively by bonefish caught over grassy bot- 
tom and not by those caught over sandy 
bottom. Bonefish caught over sandy bottom 
ate relatively more crabs and bivalves than 
did bonefish caught over grassy areas. 
Warmke and Erdman (1963) examined 
the stomach contents of 56 bonefish rang- 
ing from 292 to 663 mm FL (reported as 
0.75 to 10.25 pounds) from Puerto Rican 
waters and, like Colton and Alevizon 
Table 7 
Breakdown into the most important prey groups of the 
mean dissimilarity between stomach contents (percent 
weight) of bonefish, Albula vulpes (480-699 mm FL), col- 
lected on the ocean side of the Florida Keys during Janu- 
ary-March (n=39), April-June (n=43), and October-Decem- 
ber (n= 33). Prey groups are listed in order of decreasing 
contribution to the overall dissimilarity between the sea- 
sonal samples. Taxa proportionally more important in the 
diet of bonefish collected during January-March than dur- 
ing other seasons are shown with bold type. The low val- 
ues of 8-/SD(8-) suggest that the data were variable and 
that no taxa were reliable discriminators of any particular 
season. Symbols are explained in the legend of Table 4. 
Species 
5, 
8/SD<8,) 
5, % 
Cum 5, % 
Jan-Mar vs. Apr-Jun 
Xanthidae 
12.44 
1.16 
16.02 
16.02 
Alpheidae 
11.77 
1.28 
15.16 
31.18 
Brachyura 7 
6.71 
0.69 
8.64 
39.81 
O. beta 
5.41 
0.62 
6.97 
46.78 
Stomatopoda 
5.18 
0.64 
6.67 
53.45 
Jan-Mar vs. Oct- 
-Dec 
Alpheidae 
11.52 
1.27 
14.52 
14.52 
Xanthidae 
10.99 
0.99 
13.86 
28.38 
Brachyura 7 
7.26 
0.75 
9.16 
37.54 
Penaeidae 
4.97 
0.76 
6.27 
43.81 
O. beta 
4.90 
0.56 
6.18 
50.00 
1 Excluding xanthids, portunids, and majids. 
(1983), found that mollusks were the most 
important prey. Stomachs of Puerto Rican bonefish 
contained 56% mollusks, 42% crustaceans, and 2% 
other prey types by volume. In contrast, we found 
that mollusks accounted for only about 7% of the diet 
of Keys bonefish by weight and that crustaceans ac- 
counted for about 70% of the diet. Teleosts were part 
of Warmke and Erdman’s “other” classification and 
made up less than 2% of the diet in their study; in 
the Keys, teleosts made up over 20% of the diet by 
weight. Warmke and Erdman identified only mol- 
lusks to species. The most important mollusk they 
found was the bivalve Codakia costota, which oc- 
curred in 62% of the stomachs they examined. 
Codakia orbicularis and C. orbiculata occurred in 
stomachs from Keys bonefish but made up less than 
1% of the diet by numbers or weight. Codakia costata 
was not found in Keys bonefish stomachs and was 
not reported to occur in Florida Bay by Turney and 
Perkins (1972). 
There were slight but significant differences be- 
tween the diets of bonefish from Florida Bay and 
those from the ocean side of the Keys. These differ- 
ences may reflect differences in prey availability in 
the two areas, but overall the dominant prey eaten 
by bonefish was the same in the two areas. The fauna 
of Florida Bay has been characterized as Gulf-Caro- 
linian in nature, whereas that of the Keys ocean side 
is Antillean (Sogard et al., 1987; Holmquist et al., 
