• Main Author: Michelle D. Staudinger
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: Hake; North West Atlantic; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.612.5711; http://fishbull.noaa.gov/1044/staudinger.pdf

pealeii) and northern shortfin (Illex illecebrosus) squids are considered important prey species in the North-west Atlantic shelf ecosystem. The diets of four major squid predators, bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), goose-fish (Lophius americanus), silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis), and summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), were examined for seasonal and size-based changes in feeding habits. Summer and winter, two time periods largely absent from previous evaluations, were found to be the most impor-tant seasons for predation on squid, and are also the periods when the majority of squid are landed by the regional fishery. Bluefish>450 mm, silver hake>300 mm, and summer f lounder>400 mm were all found to be significant predators of squid. These same size fish correspond to age classes currently targeted for biomass expansion by management committees. This study highlights the importance of understanding how squid and predator interactions vary temporally and with changes in com-munity structure and stresses the need for multispecies management in the Northwest Atlantic.