Snowy Grouper Feeding 
111 
spinicarpus : “It is worthy to note thaf whereas this species is abun- 
dant in the Florida Keys, no remains were found among the hun- 
dreds of fish examined in recent years. This is attributable to the 
formidable armature of the chelipeds which is sufficient to ward off 
the enemy.” Our observations were that spines on this species and 
other crustaceans partially penetrated the inner stomach wall. 
Ovalipes stephensoni was numerically the third most common 
prey item and was represented by seven males (37-65 mm CW), 
six females (54-78 m CW), and six specimens of undetermined 
sex. O. stephensoni occurred as prey at both study areas in 146- 
236 m on nine cruises during March, May, June, July, September, 
and October. 
Wenner and Read (1982) reported O. stephensoni to be the 
second most common portunid collected in the South Atlantic Bight 
(10-227 m). It comprised 2% of all depapods caught between 111 
and 183 m. Cain (1974) reported that O. stephensoni burrows by 
day and forages at night. 
Other reef fish preying on O. stephensoni off North and South 
Carolina include Warsaw grouper ( Epinephelus nigritus) (Holbrook) 
(J. Dodrill, personal observation), red porgy ( Pagrus pagrus), black 
sea bass ( Centropristis striata ) (Linnaeus), and vermilion snapper 
(juvenile crabs only) (South Carolina Wildlife Marine Resource 
Department and Duke University Marine Laboratory 1982). 
Portunus floridanus was represented by a single female (30.5 
mm CW) swallowed intact by a grouper caught at 143-152 m dur- 
ing August 1985. Off North Carolina the species occurs from spring 
through fall on the outer shelf (50-100 m) but is not overabundant. 
Wenner and Read (1982) caught three specimens while trawling at 
81 m at one of 496 stations between Cape Fear and Cape Canaveral. 
This species is associated with hard bottom and does not range 
north of our primary study area (Cain 1972, South Carolina Wild- 
life Marine Resource Department and Duke University Marine 
Laboratory 1982). 
Calappidae — Calappa angusta was the second most common 
decapod taken from snowy grouper caught in 108-201 m during 17 
trips, all SSE of Cape Lookout. This crab occurred in every sam- 
pling month but May. C. angusta was represented by 34 males 
(21-40 mm CW), 5 females (22-34 mm CW), and 5 damaged speci- 
mens of undetermined sex. The predominance of male crabs and 
the presence of three of five recorded females in a single grouper 
stomach might indicate a spatial or temporal segregation by sex in 
depths of 146-155 m in the primary study area. Four C. angusta 
(30-34 mm CW) and nothing else in the intact stomach of a snowy 
