• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.1052-1057
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• 2021

The diet composition of common flying squid Todarodes pacificus was studied using 1,084 specimens collected through trawl and jigging from June 2018 to June 2020 in the East Sea of Korea. The mantle length (ML) of the collected individuals ranged from 13.6 to 31.1 cm. Todarodes pacificus is a carnivore. In the study area, T. pacificus was observed feeding mainly on fish and cephalopods, in addition to small quantities of crustaceans. The calculated trophic level value for T. pacificus was 4.10. Small individuals (ML, <18.0 cm) mainly fed on cephalopods, while intermediate (ML, 18.0-23.0 cm) and large (ML, ≥23.0 cm) individuals fed mainly on fish and occasionally on cephalopods. Overall, as the body size of T. pacificus increased, the mean weight of the consumed prey increased (one-way ANOVA, P<0.05).