 The fish is carnivorous, with its prey consisting mainly of benthic invertebrates and fishes.Such food items include polychaetes, gastropods, bivalve mollusks, rock crabs, cancer crabs, spider crabs, lobsters, shrimps, squids, and fishes including spiny dogfish, alewife, Atlantic herring, menhaden, hakes, sculpins, cunner, tautog, sand lance, butterfish, and various flounders.Juveniles primarily subsist on benthic invertebrates such as polychaetes, copepods, amphipods, isopods, crangon shrimp, and euphausiids.