Life History of Cobia 
13 
Table 5. Continued. 
Prey Taxa 
/ 
n 
w 
iri 
Dasyatidae 
Dasyatis sp. 
3.6 
0.9 
12.7 
49 
Osteichthyes 
Clupeidae 
Opisthonema oglinum 
0.9 
0.4 
0.4 
1 
Engraulidae 
Anchoa sp. 
0.9 
1.3 
0.1 
1 
Synodontidae 
Synodus foetens 
0.9 
0.2 
0.3 
<1 
Batrachoididae 
Opsanus sp. 
3.6 
1.1 
2.7 
14 
Syngnathidae 
Hippocampus sp. 
0.9 
0.2 
<0.1 
<1 
Syngnathus sp. 
19.1 
7.0 
2.2 
176 
Sparidae 
Lagodon rhomboides 
0.9 
0.2 
0.2 
<1 
Uranoscopidae 
unidentified remains 
0.9 
0.2 
<0.1 
<1 
Soleidae 
Trinectes maculatus 
0.9 
0.7 
0.4 
1 
Cynoglossidae 
Symphurus plagiusa 
17.3 
13.2 
6.8 
346 
Balistidae 
unidentified remains 
2.7 
1.3 
0.1 
4 
Tetradontidae 
Sphoeroides maculatus 
0.9 
0.7 
1.9 
2 
Diodontidae 
Chilomycterus schoepfi 
0.9 
0.2 
1.2 
1 
unidentified fish remains 
21.8 
7.5 
4.5 
262 
ingested. Smooth dogfish pups ( n = 28) averaged 42 g; dasyatid sting 
rays ( n = 4) averaged 173 g. The largest teleosts consumed were 
the striped burrfish, Chilomycterus schoepfi (n = 1, 65 g), the northern 
puffer, Sphoeroides maculatus (n = 3, * = 34 g), and toadfishes, Opsanus 
sp. (n = 5, x = 29 g). Most portunid crabs were less than 7 cm in 
carapace width (CW) and were ingested whole; commercial-sized blue 
crabs (ca. 12.5-cm CW) were rarely consumed. Ovalipid crabs were 
often macerated. Small balistid fishes occurred in the stomachs of 
juvenile cobia from offshore trawl catches and were among the smallest 
teleosts consumed (n = 6, x = 1 g). 
As cobia increased in size, penaeid shrimps and teleost fishes 
became relatively less important in the diet, while decapod crabs increased 
