120 
John Dodrill et al. 
deeper end of the grouper’s bathymetric range. Two I. illecebrosus 
(130 and 175 mm mantle length) were swallowed intact by a 13.6- 
kg snowy grouper in 194 m in July 1985 south of Cape Lookout. 
Three L. pealei (142-, 130-, and 130-mm mantle length), two of 
which were taken from one 4.5-kg grouper, came from slightly shallow- 
er water, 146-155 m, in November. These specimens were swal- 
lowed whole. Although both species have been recorded from the 
same trawl tows, grouper appear to feed on unmixed groupings. 
The few squid we found in stomachs might not indicate the 
value of this resource to snowy grouper. Probably only the gladius, 
eye lens, and beak are indigestible; digestion of other parts might 
proceed so rapidly that little remains. In winter, squid and fish 
might become more important in the diet. Seasonal abundance shifts 
might occur in some squids at that time, especially L. pealei , which 
is distributed over the shelf in spring and summer but concentrated 
on the outer shelf and upper slope in winter. Unfortunately, no 
extensive midwinter sampling was conducted to prove this; how- 
ever, before the start of our study in early March 1985, grouper 
containing squid were caught beyond 183 m. Whole, frozen squid 
about the size found in grouper guts was the most effective bait. 
The only other mollusk identified was a cone shell ( Concus 
delessertii). The shell had a broken lip and worm tube inside, which 
suggests the grouper had picked up the shell empty. 
Feeding Ecology 
Foraging Away From The Home Reef — All snowy grouper 
aggregations we sampled were associated with hard bottom or wrecks. 
Sites were generally small, scattered, and surrounded by unproduc- 
tive sand bottom. Grouper aggregations were similarly scattered and 
highly localized. Adult snowy grouper seem to associate exclusively 
with rugged bottom. This has been recorded in other studies off 
the southeastern United States (Low and Ulrich 1983; Parker and 
Ross 1986; R. S. Jones and R. G. Gilmore, Harbor Branch Founda- 
tion, Ft. Pierce, Florida, personal communication). 
Limited exploratory fishing was undertaken to determine (1) if 
snowy grouper could be located over open, smooth bottom and (2) 
if this species foraged over open bottom any significant distance 
away from reef areas. Because solitary, large (>9 kg) mutton snap- 
per (Lutjanus analis) (Cuvier) and red snapper (L. campechanus) 
(Poey), had been caught on experimental longlines set in less than 
55 m over open bottom, we thought that snowy grouper might also 
be captured some distance from reefs. Twenty months of fathometer 
searching by two commercial vessels located no productive snowy 
grouper sites on open bottom between 128 and 247 m from south 
