Snowy Grouper Feeding 
115 
been reported previously from North Carolina (R. Manning, Crusta- 
cean Section, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, 
D.C., personal communication). 
Pisces 
Fishes were the second most important major taxon in the 
diet, representing 6% of the food items and approximately 17% of 
the volume (Table 3). This is in contrast to Bielsa’s (1982) analy- 
sis of 26 snowy grouper from the lower Florida Keys where fish 
comprised 43% of the prey items, 47% of the prey volume, and 
occurred in 69% of the intestines. The paucity of fish remains com- 
pared to crustacean remains was probably not a sampling artifact in 
our study, because selective regurgitation of fish, versus retention 
of hard-bodied crustaceans, was not evident from an examination of 
23 intact stomachs (Table 4) nor from the NMFS and BLM data. 
Fish in the snowy grouper diet were small (39-320 mm TL) 
and were swallowed whole. Thirty-three of 42 ingested fish were 
less than 200 mm TL. Small fish can be digested at a more rapid 
rate than adult brachyurans or large squid; thus, small fishes could 
be more important in the diet than our results show. In small fish, 
musculature rapidly separates, increasing the digestive surface area. 
Fish we recovered were either fairly fresh or in such an advanced 
state of digestion that they were unidentifiable. Only 15 of 42 fish 
could be identified to species, and of the 27 unidentifiable fish, 
most were under 200 mm TL. 
Fish prey represent three general categories: small midwater 
schooling fishes often found near the bottom or in close association 
with rock relief, non-schooling reef fishes associated with irregular 
or hard bottom, and benthic fishes that burrow or remain concealed. 
Small, Schooling Fishes — Seven butterfish ( Peprilus triacanthus) 
(Peck) occurred as food during March and April in 146-225 m. A 
whole P. triancanthus (approximately 130 mm TL) was found in a 
snowy grouper on 20 April 1985 at a station south of Cape Hatteras 
in 194-225 m. A butterfish was also observed in a snowy grouper 
stomach from this area in late winter before our study (J. Dodrill, 
personal communication). 
Butterfish can increase in abundance seasonally on the outer 
shelf and upper slope during cooler months off central North Caro- 
lina. This migratory trend is well documented from Cape Hatteras 
to southern New England, but is less apparent in more southern 
waters where the existence of a second, inshore population is hy- 
pothesized (S. Ross, North Carolina State University, personal com- 
munication; Murawski et al. 1977; Manooch 1984). The species tends 
