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John Dodrill et al. 
Epibenthic predators, particularly those associated with deep 
water reefs, often feed on small cryptic fish and macroinvertebrates. 
These prey are ineffectively sampled by trawls, dredges, grabs, and 
remote cameras. Thus, analysis of snowy grouper stomachs provides 
additional life history and distribution data on prey items that might 
otherwise have gone unsampled by conventional sampling methods. 
The objective of our study was to define the role of adult 
snowy grouper as an epibenthic predator in the trophic structure of 
the shelf-edge and upper-slope communities off the central coast of 
North Carolina. By sampling abroad a commercial fishing vessel, 
we were able to (1) identify foods of snow grouper, (2) evaluate 
their contribution to the diet numerically and volumetrically, and 
(3) compare the diet of snowy grouper with those of other ser- 
ranids and with three important sympatric species. 
METHODS 
Thirty, 1-4-day commercial handline fishing trips targeting 
snowy grouper stocks in deep water were made off North Carolina 
(Table 1). Stomachs were examined and prey items were collected 
during fishing operations aboard a 12.5-m vessel, and occasionally 
aboard a 9.4-m sister vessel, based in Beaufort, North Carolina (Table 
1). The primary study area was a narrow zone which began ap- 
proximately 83 km SSE of Cape Lookout and extended about 44 
km to the northeast along the outer continental shelf edge and up- 
per-slope crown at depths of 137-194 m. Fishing was conducted 
from spring through fall. Several spring trips were made to a sec- 
ondary study area about 57 km south of Cape Hatteras in 168-238 
m along the upper slope crown in a 10-km 2 area. In both areas 
numerous stations, including at least two wrecks, were drift fished 
with weighted multiple hook rally rigs baited with squid on wire 
handlines operated from hydraulic reels. A single exploratory longline 
set in 108 m and a single handline station at 112 m were the 
shallowest depths fished and contributed fewer than 40 fish to the 
study. 
Bottom topography at 137-194 m typically consisted of scat- 
tered rock outcroppings or ledge formations of variable relief and 
shape which protruded through terrigeneous sand substrate of vary- 
ing coarseness and a variable carbonate shell component. Deeper, 
particularly in the secondary study area beyond 219 m, a clay-mud 
substrate was sometimes encountered. 
The senior author served full time as a commercial fisherman 
on the vessels. He cleaned large quantities of fish and recovered 
food items that would not have been available at dockside. This 
sampling was an unfunded, volunteer endeavor aboard a vessel whose 
