Occurrence and feeding habit of the settled larval and juvenile spotted halibut Verasper variegatus at sandy beaches on the western coast of Kyushu, Japan

Abstract

A total of 45 settled larval and juvenile spotted halibut Verasper variegatus were collected at four sandy beaches on the western coast of Kyushu, from March to June in 1991. The fish occurred only in closed beaches which are situated in the northern part of the survey area. The catch and mean standard length with standard deviation of the specimens were 25 fish and 16.1 ± 3.8 mm in March, 11 fish and 34.4 ± 6.0 mm in April, 6 fish and 49.2 ± 13.3 mm in May and 3 fish and 91.0 ± 19.9 mm in June, respectively. The food of the fish consisted of copepods, cumaceans, amphipods, mysids and decapods, whose size increased with the growth of the fish.