Snowy Grouper Feeding 
131 
taxa consumed as well as prey diversity in any feeding episode. 
After accounting for embolism, a low percentage of stomachs with 
food suggests irregular feeding. 
Although there appears to be major food overlap with such 
congeners as E. nigritus and E. flavolimbatus, these two species 
were uncommon in snowy grouper areas fished between 137 and 
238 m. Prey item overlap was noted with three sympatric species, 
Pagrus pagrus, Rhomboplites aurorubens, and Caulolatilus microps, 
although competition for specific species was low (highest with P. 
pagrus). All three species seemed to have a more diverse diet than 
snowy grouper as well as different feeding strategies. P. pagrus 
and R. aurorubens were uncommon beyond 140 m and were absent 
beyond 165 m. 
Snowy grouper are predominantly daylight feeders, and fishing 
success suggests greater feeding activity during morning or late af- 
ternoon. Small grouper generally feed only in daylight, whereas large 
individuals (>850 mm TL) at depths beyond 183 m, occasionally 
feed on calm, moonlit nights. Crepuscular or nocturnally active prey 
are sought at those times. 
Snowy grouper are associated with the bottom and are con- 
fined almost exclusively to widely scattered, hard bottom, deep reef 
sites. Prey habits suggest grouper move short distances to feed. 
Extensive exploratory effort could not confirm the presence of grouper 
over open bottom areas away from hard bottom habitat of varying 
vertical relief. 
LITERATURE CITED 
Barans, C. A., and V. G. Burrell, Jr. 1976. Preliminary findings of 
trawling on the continental shelf off the southeastern United States 
during four seasons (1973-1975). South Carolina Marine Resources 
Center Technical Report 13. 
Barr, L. 1975. Biology and behavior of the arrow crab Stenorhynchus 
seticornis in Lameshur Bay, St. John, USA, Virgin Islands. Natural 
History Museum of Los Angeles City. Scientific Bulletin 20:47-56. 
Bielsa, L. M. 1982. Food-web community of two deep-water reef fish, 
Caulolatilus microps Goode and Bean 1878, and Epinehelus niveatus 
(Valenciennes 1828), in the lower Florida Keys. M. S. Thesis, Uni- 
versity of Florida, Gainesville. 
Bigelow, H. B., and W. C. Schroeder. 1953. Fishes of the Gulf of 
Maine. United States Fish and Wildlife Service Fishery Bulletin 53. 
Bohlke, J. E., and C. C. G. Chaplin. 1968. Fishes of the Bahamas and 
adjacent tropical waters. Livingston Publishing Company, Wynnewood, 
Pennsylvania. 
Breder, C. M. 1953. An ophichthid eel in the coelom of a sea bass. 
Zoologica 38:201-202. 
