Snowy Grouper Feeding 
105 
primary objective was to catch, clean, and ice as many fish in as 
short a time as possible. Often only the senior author and the 
captain were aboard, and there was never more than a second crewman. 
When grouper regurgitated food items on deck, it was usually 
not possible to assign specific items to a particular grouper or to 
Table 1. Commercial fishing trips make off North Carolina where snowy grouper 
digestive tract contents were collected, 1985-86. 
Date 
Depth (m) 
Number 
of Snowy 
Grouper 
Size 
(mm TL) 
Gutted Mass (kg) 
x Total 
2/22/85 
194-205 
28 
14.7 
411.6 
4/13/85 
205-236 
44 
455-1090 
8.8 
387.2 
4/18-21/85 
194 
34 
450-1070 
6.8 
231.2 
4/26-29/85 
111,194-208 
157 
510-1075 
5.3 
832.1 
5/5/85 
196,205 
2 
8.4 
16.8 
5/16-17/85 
146-155 
599 
330- 990 
2.7 
1,617.3 
5/21-23/85 
146-192 
290 
330-1010 
2.0 
580.0 
6/2-4/85 
155,187-236 
150 
7-1100 
8.1 
1,215.0 
6/9-11/85 
236 
58 
(394.6) 1 
6/21-24/85 
148-155 
470 
3.3 
1,551.0 
6/28-29/85 
194 
223 
8.6 
1,917.8 
7/2-3/85 
194 
76 
435-1030 
6.5 
494.0 
7/9-10/85 
146,194 
124 
410- 990 
6.1 
756.4 
7/14-17/85 
108-194 
136 
390- 990 
5.6 
761.6 
7/20-21/85 
194 
277 
380-1100 
8.3 
2,299.1 
7/30-31/85 
194 
285 
405-1020 
4.7 
1,339.5 
8/5-7/85 
143-146 
252 
404- 990 
4.8 
1,208.6 
8/23/85 
194 
31 
1.8 
55.8 
8/25-26/85 
137-146 
184 
335- 770 
2.9 
533.6 
8/29-30/85 
201-238 
85 
5.0 
425.0 
9/3-6/85 
141-192 
453 
?- 980 
3.8 
1,721.4 
9/20-21/85 
148 
28 
1.5 
42.0 
9/30-10/2/85 
148-192 
190 
405- 860 
2.7 
513.0 
10/19-20/85 
159-194 
54 
515- 850 
(158.8) 1 
11/7-8/85 
159-194 
49 
2.2 
107.8 
11/9-11/85 
146-159 
178 
2.5 
445.0 
11/19-20/85 
146-155 
157 
335- 785 
1.8 
282.6 
2/19/86 
146 
1 
3.6 
3.6 
3/16-18/86 
141-194 
321 
350- 876 
2.4 
770.4 
3/25-27/86 
146-163 
152 
365- 760 
2.6 
395.2 
Combined 
5,088 
4.2 
21,370 
1 Estimated gutted mass. 
