Bowman Ray E., Stillwell Charles E., Michaels William L. Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid

Woods Hole, MA: Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 2000. — 160 p.This paper provides a reference document for researchers interested in the types of prey eaten by fishes and two common species of squids in continental shelf waters off the northeastern United States. The stomach contents of 31567 individuals representing 180 species were analyzed. Collection of specimens was primarily by bottom trawl or longline during 1963-1984. Most of the smaller-sized fish species (i. e. , <100 cm long) and the two squid species were collected by bottom trawl during 1977-1980. Most of the apex predators, including the large sharks and tunas, and other large-sized species were collected by longline.
Dietary data are initially presented as a summary table which lists for each of 170 predators the relative contribution of six major functional prey groups (i.e., fish, squid, polychaete, decapod crustacean, other crustacean, and all other) to its diet. Such data are subsequently presented as summary tables which list for each of those six functional prey groups the predators involved and the relative contribution of seven geographic areas (i.e., Middle Atlantic, Southern New England, Georges Bank, Gulf of Maine, Scotian Shelf, inshore north of Cape Hatteras, and south of Cape Hatteras) to each predator's consumption of that functional prey group. Also, appendix tables provide a detailed listing of the overall stomach contents for each predator species and, for selected species, the stomach contents according to predator size, or to both predator size and geographic area of collection.
Fifty-nine species fed primarily (i.e., >50% of the stomach contents by weight or volume) on fish and/or squid. Some of the major piscivores (not listed in any particular order) were Atlantic cod, silver hake, almost all of the sharks, winter skate, thorny skate, goosefish, white hake, bluefish, striped bass, weakfish, Atlantic bonito, little runny, sea raven, Atlantic halibut, and summer flounder. Common fish and squid taken as prey included northern sand lance, hakes, herrings, mackerels, butterfish, anchovies, scup, flatfishes, sculpins, longfin inshore squid, and northern shortfin squid.
A variety of prey groups other than fish and squid were important food for different predators. For example, polychaetes (mostly spionids, nereids, and nephtyids) were important constituents of the diet of seven species. Decapod shrimp (e.g. , Pandalus spp., Dichelopandalus leptocerus, and Crangon septemspinosa) and crabs (principally Cancer spp., Pagurus spp., and Ovalipes spp.) were the main food of 1 7 species. Crustaceans other than decapod shrimp and crabs made up a substantial portion of the stomach contents of 32 species, and included prey such as copepods, amphipods, euphausiids, mysids, and stomatopods. Other prey groups such as echinoderms, bivalve mollusks, cnidarians, and tunicates made up most of the food of 37 predators. Eighteen predator species were diverse feeders and didn't feed intensively on any one of the above-noted prey categories.