Feeding habits of four species of mesopelagic fishes from the Northern Chilean.

The feeding habits of four species of mesopelagic fishes from northern Chile are described: Triphoturus mexicanus, Diogenichtys atlanticus, Vinciguerria lucetia and Cyclothone acclinidens. Samples were captured in September 1988 between 18 degrees 25' and 19 degrees 09'S in the South West Pacific. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the stomach content showed that the species have a zooplanktophagous opportunistic behavior, mainly predating on Crustaceans, especially on Copepods. The evaluation of the trophic spectrum and diversity of T. mexicanus and C. acclinidens suggests that these are nictoepipelagic species, while D. atlanticus and V. lucetia would be typical mesopelagic.