Pergamon Deep-Sea Research I. Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 521-531, 1997 0 1991 Elsevier Science Ltd PIE So%7-0637(96)00120-3 All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain 0967-0637/ 97517.00+0.00 Food habits of the two-line eelpout (Botk.wara brunneum: Zoarcidae) at two deep-sea sites in the eastern North Pacific LARA A. FERRY*? (Received 7 March 1996; accepted 24 June 1996) Abstract-Two-line eelpouts were collected from two deep-sea sites in the eastern North Pacific in order to study food habits. The diet of this species is low in diversity, consisting primarily of shrimp- like crustaceans and secondarily of small zoarcid fishes. Although significant differences in diet exist between the two study sites, it appears that two-line eelpouts have a narrow dietary breadth. Previous and concurrent surveys of the region indicate that there is a wide range of potential prey available to two-line eelpouts; however, the species appears to be using a narrow range of benthopelagic fauna, suggesting that it is capable of some degree of prey specialization. 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd INTRODUCTION Recent compilation of dietary data for a variety of deep-sea fishes has allowed the examination of factors such as dietary breadth and prey selectivity. Eelpouts (Family Zoarcidae) are abundant and widespread residents off North America’s Pacific coast, with approximately 220 species occupying primarily deep-sea habitats (Anderson, 1994). Eelpouts, however, are a group of fishes for which dietary information is generally sparse. Few researchers have studied food habits of eelpout species directly, but many have reported gut contents incidentally with other descriptive work. These observations indicated that eelpouts can consume a variety of benthic and pelagic invertebrates including bivalves, amphipods, ophiuroids and annelids (Andriashev, 1954; McAllister et al., 1981; Anderson, 1982; Livingston and Goiney, 1983; Houston and Haedrich, 1986). That eelpout species cumulatively inhabit a wide range of habitats is reflected by the high variability in diet among species. The two-line eelpout (Bothrocara brunneum, Family Zoarcidae) is common in the North Pacific, and is among the largest of the deep-sea eelpouts (Bayliff, 1959). It has been suggested that they primarily inhabit the benthic realm (Bayliff, 1959; Hart, 1980). This species has recently been observed in ROV (remote operated vehicle) video and camera sled film footage (W. Wakefield, personal communication; S.A.I.C., 1972); however, they have not successfully been kept alive in captivity (R. Vetter, personal communication; and personal observation). Based on observations from a submersible, Gotshall and Dyer (1987) proposed that two-line eelpouts will eat almost any organism that will fit into their mouths. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that two-line eelpouts are generalist feeders, through an investigation of the diet of this species at two sites in the eastern North Pacific. * Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, P.O. Box 450, Moss Landing, CA 95039, U.S.A. t Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697. U.S.A. 521