Food of Aholehole — Tester and Trefz 
5 
Fig. 1. Map of Oahu showing the location of places from which aholehole samples were obtained. 
The items in the stomachs were identified, 
counted when not too numerous, and ex- 
pressed as a percentage (estimated) by bulk 
of the total. In large fish the volume of the 
contents was also determined, but as this did 
not vary greatly {ca. 2 to 6 ml.) it was not 
incorporated into the calculations. For each 
sample a table was prepared showing the 
frequency of occurrence and the average per- 
centage by bulk of each item. Only the latter 
figures are included in Table 1. 
Organisms were identified usually to order 
or suborder, often to family, and more rarely 
to genus and species. 
The places of collection, all on Oahu, may 
be located on the accompanying map (Fig. 1). 
RESULTS 
It may be seen from Table 1 that aholehole 
eat seven major types of food: algae, fora- 
minifera, annelids, Crustacea, insects, spiders, 
and molluscs. It is apparent from the grand 
means that the relative importance of the 
major groups differs with size-group of fish 
and with habitat. The results will be discussed 
according to these two categories. 
Small {20-63 mm.) Fish from Fresh Water 
Small aholehole from both Bellows Field 
(samples 1 to 3) and Kaaawa Stream (samples 
4 and 5) contained algae, insects, crustaceans, 
and foraminifera, in order of decreasing per- 
centage. The samples were taken from within 
the stream mouths in water which was prac- 
tically fresh (chlorinity 1 to 3 p.p.m.). 
Algae and other plant material (averaging 
65.6 per cent of the food) occurred in 41 of 
the 46 stomachs examined. Filamentous red 
algae {Compsopogon) was the most abundant 
form in samples from both localities. Fila- 
