Snowy Grouper Feeding 
119 
Two cusk eels (Ophidiidae) occurred as prey in the primary 
study area. One specimen (110 mm TL) was from a 4.5-kg snowy 
grouper caught 17 May 1985 at 153 m, and a second (254 mm 
TL), tentatively identified as Lepophidium jeannae Fowler, was col- 
lected from a grouper caught 6 August 1985 in 192 m south of 
Cape Lookout. Typical of most snowy grouper fish prey, cusk eels 
are usually small (<;30 mm TL) (Robins et al. 1986), benthic spe- 
cies which bury tail first into the sand (Bohlke and Chaplin 1968). 
Two other benthic fishes, a congrid eel and an offshore lizardfish 
(i Synodus poeyi Jordan) were removed from grouper stomachs. The 
former was a gravid female (320 mm TL) sampled 23 June 1985 
from a grouper collected in 148 m south of Cape Lookout. The 
congrid ( Paraconger caudilimbatus) (Poey) was reported from snowy 
grouper in the North Carolina BLM study (Duke University Marine 
Laboratory 1982). Large conger eels ( Conger oceanicus) (Mitchell) 
(>1 m TL), concealed or inactive by day but feeding at night in 
proximity to large E. nivaetus, are probably immune to snowy 
grouper predation. 
The offshore lizardfish was a juvenile (86 mm TL) recovered 
1 October 1985 in 148 m south of Cape Lookout. Offshore 
lizardfish were the sixth most numerically abundant fish species 
taken in Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction 
Program bottom trawls in the South Atlantic Bight in the 111-183 
depth range, comprising 2.2% of the fish caught at that depth 
(Wenner et al. 1979). 
Mollusca 
Squid comprised almost 10% of the food volume (Table 3). 
Snowy grouper fed on at least two species, the long-finned squid 
{Loligo pealei) and the northern shortfin squid ( Illex illecebrosus) 
(LeSueur). Squid occurred in grouper in June, July, September, and 
November. 
Loligo pealei is a neritic species occurring over the 
continental shelf and upper slope to 400 m. It ranges throughout 
the water column at night and is demersal by day (Roper et al. 
1984). Thus, L. pealei is available as food on or near the bottom 
in the daytime when snowy grouper are active feeders. 
Illex illecebrosus was the second most common squid trawled 
at depths greater than 128 m, with numbers increasing beyond 219 
m (North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, Cruise Reports, R/ 
V Dan Moore , 1977-78). Wenner et al. (1979) reported that this 
species was more common on the upper slope (155-285 m). Shortfin 
squid might be a more important food for adult grouper toward the 
