10 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL VIII, January, 1954 
dominant types of food available in the three 
habitats and to an increasing ability of the 
hsh to take larger organisms as it grows larger 
and the gape of its mouth increases. 
The large percentage of insects found in the 
stomachs of small fish was unexpected. In the 
fresh-water samples these were mostly terres- 
trial forms (ants, beetles, etc.) which had 
fallen into the water or accidentally landed 
on the surface. In the salt-water samples they 
included terrestrial forms (ants, wasps, etc.) 
but consisted largely of midge {Clunio) adults 
and larvae which breed in salt water along the 
rocky shores. Insects occurred only rarely in 
the stomachs of large fish and included midges 
{Clunio) in those taken from the base of cliffs 
and salt-water striders {Halohates) in those 
taken farther from shore, as well as a few 
terrestrial species. 
The aholehole might be described as om- 
nivorous but with a preference for motile 
animal forms. Although algae of various spe- 
cies were abundant in the salt-water habitat, 
they were eaten to only a small extent. The 
fact that they formed such a large percentage 
of the food of the small fish in fresh water 
was probably because motile animal life, of 
a size suitable to the small fish, was relatively 
scarce. 
Superficially the aholehole resembles the 
fresh-water Centrarchidae in both appearance 
and feeding habits. However, in both the 
smallmouth black bass (Tester, 1932) and the 
largemouth black bass (Murphy, 1949) there 
is a change in diet with increase in size to 
include fish as an important food item. This 
does not occur in the aholehole, even though 
larval and juvenile fish of suitable size are 
present in the habitat. Larval fish were found 
in only four stomachs and formed a very 
minor item in the diet of the larger aholehole. 
From a study of the natural food, one 
would infer that Crustacea would serve as an 
ideal bait in angling for the medium and 
large fish. This is true; we have found shrimp 
to be the best bait, although the fish will also 
respond to a hook baited with pellets of 
bread. Both vegetable material such as bread 
and poi and animal material such as ground 
fish and shrimp may be used to chum ahole- 
hole to the surface. 
As is true of several other species, the ahole- 
hole appears to cease feeding when ready to 
spawn. 
REFERENCES 
Murphy, G. I. 1949. The food of young 
largemouth black bass {Micropterus sal- 
moides) in Clear Lake, California. Calif. Fish 
and Game 35(3): 159-163. 
Orcutt, H. G. 1950. The life history of the 
starry flounder, Platichthys stellatus (Pallas) . 
Calif. Div. Fish and Game, Fish Bui. 78: 
1-64. 
Ricker, W. E. 1946. Production and utiliza- 
tion of fish populations. Fcol. Monog. 16: 
373-391. 
Tester, A. L. 1932. Food of the small- 
mouthed black bass {Micropterus dolomieu) 
in some Ontario waters. Toronto Univ. Stud- 
ies, Biol. Ser. 36: 169-203. 
