Feeding relationships of a demersal fish assemblage on the west coast of Scotland

Abstract

The feeding relationships of an assemblage of demersal fishes present on a soft‐sediment bottom off the west coast of Scotland in the late summer‐autumn were investigated. On the basis of stomach content analyses of the fifteen commonest species, three major feeding types could be distinguished. The first consisted of small browsing species feeding predominantly on infaunal polychaetes. The second relied heavily on caridean decapods, but within this group three subgroups could be detected which supplemented their diet with amphipods, mysids or polychaetes, respectively. The third group fed on large prey consisting of mysids and/or fish. Several species passed from one group to another as they grew, and there was a general tendency for fish to become more specialized in their diet with increasing size. The three groups represent a series in which decreasing reliance is placed on the substratum as a source of food.