112 
John Dodrill et al. 
grouper caught 31 July 1985 in 146-155 m might also suggest a 
patchy distribution for this crab, or prey preference by the grouper. 
The level of abundance indicated by occurrence in stomachs 
was not found by Wenner and Read (1982) from trawl sampling. 
They reported collecting only 45 specimens in 496 trawl tows in 
the South Atlantic Bight. 
The presence of C. angusta in the stomachs of black sea bass 
and red porgy indicates some proximity to hard bottom areas (Manooch 
1977, South Carolina Wildlife Marine Resource Department and 
Duke University Marine Laboratory 1982). 
Acanthocarpus alexandri ( n = 13) was the fourth most 
abundant decapod collected from snowy grouper stomachs. Speci- 
mens were adults or subadults represented by nine males (29-37 
mm CW), three females (25-32 mm CW), and one damaged speci- 
men, sex unknown. A. alexandri was found in stomachs in five 
trips in May, June, and August. Three specimens were taken from 
the same grouper caught in the primary study area at 146 m; all 
others were collected from grouper taken south of Cape Hatteras in 
168-205 m. On a 5 May 1985 trip, two snowy grouper were caught 
in 196-205 m south of Cape Hatteras and both contained one A. 
alexandri. One grouper (925 mm TL) had four fresh, intact crabs 
in its stomach. 
Wenner and Read (1982) collected only four A. alexandri at 
496 trawling stations between 9 and 366 m in the South Atlantic 
Bight. A. alexandri was not collected by extensive dredging on the 
continental shelf off North Carolina (Cerame-Vivas and Gray 1966), 
although Pequegnat (1970) reported that this species was by far the 
most abundant deep water crab collected in the Gulf of Mexico. 
Leucosiidae — Myropsis quinquespinosa ranked fifth in 
numerical prey abundance, with 10 individuals recovered. This de- 
capod was found in snowy grouper caught in 146-159 m SSE of 
Cape Lookout on five trips during June, July, October, and Novem- 
ber 1985. Three of these crabs were males (30, 33, 35 mm CW) 
and seven were females (24-41 mm CW). One 31-mm-CW female 
collected 15 July 1985 from a grouper caught in 155 m was ovigerous. 
Wenner and Read (1982) collected this species in a narrow 
outer shelf depth range (102-155 m) with only 10 specimens trawled 
from 9 of 496 stations. Williams et al. (1968) reported 10 males 
and 1 ovigerous female (July) taken during four Duke University 
R/V Eastward cruises at eight stations in May, July, and October 
1965 and in January 1966. Specimens were collected from the gen- 
eral vicinity of our fishing grounds on the shelf edge and upper 
slope between 100 and 210 m. Other central North Carolina outer 
