The food and feeding of the deep-sea morid fish Lepidion eques (Gunther, 1887) in the Rockall Trough

Abstract
The stomach contents of Lepidion eques trawled at depths ranging from 500 to 1250 m on the Hebridean Terrace (56°-57° N, 9°-11° W) are analysed relative to size of fish, depth of habitat and season of the year. Of the 1281 fish examined, 47% had everted stomachs, 29% empty stomachs, 2% had food that was totally unrecognizable while 21% had food whose constituents could be identified. The principal dietary components are the epibenthic and hyperbenthic decapod crustaceans, although a wide variety of other organisms also occur as minor components. Benthic infauna and sessile epifauna are absent from the diet. L. eques therefore feed predominantly on organisms swimming immediately above the sea-bed or actively moving over it.
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