The dark sleeper diet mainly consists of zoobenthos:
chironomids, small aquatic bugs and larvae, which are all found in the
benthic zone of the water column. In experiments, they will also predate on
Japanese eels, with most afflicted eels even attempting to escape out of the
digestive system into the
esophagus and
gills. Some eels succeeded in exiting through the gills. Eels that were completely inside the stomach constantly circled in it, as if searching for an exit. File:岩の下、巣と卵塊を守るドンコのオス.jpg|Male guarding eggs, at
Kyūshū File:ドンコを喰らうドンコ.jpg|Cannibalism ==References==