Urophycis tenuis (Mitchill, 1814)

Falke, Landon P., Smith, Brian E., Rowe, Stacy, Peters, Rebecca J. & Sheehan, Timothy F., 2025, Trophic ecology of groundfishes in nearshore areas of the Gulf of Maine, Journal of Fish Biology 106 (4), pp. 1095-1111 : 1104

3.3.3 | U. tenuis

Stomach contents of U. tenuis consisted mostly of pandalids, crangonids, and M. bilinearis , although a variety of piscine taxa contributed to their diets overall (Figure 3; Table S3). Variation in U. tenuis diet composition among tows was explained by depth (DF = 1, 76; F = 3.48; p <0.001), bottom temperature (DF = 1, 76; F = 2.64; p = 0.002), longitude (DF = 1, 76; F = 1.95; p = 0.011), and year (DF = 1, 76; F = 2.07; p = 0.017), representing the order of explanatory variables in the final CCA model (DF = 4, 76; F = 2.53; p <0.001). The final model explained 11.8% of variation in diet composition, with the first and second CCA axes representing 4.4% and 3.1%, respectively (Figure 5c). Diets of U. tenuis included relatively more (tow-level proportional mass) euphausiids, M. bilinearis , mysids, and unclassified shrimps in the spring and more pandalids in the fall (Table S4). With increasing depth, U. tenuis consumed more crabs ( Cancer spp. ), gadiforms, P. borealis , M. bilinearis , and unclassified teleosts, and less crangonids, decapods, and pandalids (Figure S15). Consumption of crangonids, unclassified decapods, and pandalids was positively correlated with bottom temperature, whereas consumption of euphausiids and M. bilinearis was negatively correlated with temperature (Figure S15). Correlations by longitude included increased consumption of crangonids, pandalids, and polychaetes and decreased consumption of wrymouth Cryptacanthodes maculatus Storer 1839 , Acadian redfish Sebastes fasciatus Storer 1854 , and unclassified teleosts from west to east (Figure S15). The relative consumption of P. borealis and unclassified shrimps in U. tenuis diets were negatively correlated with year (Figure S15).