Intertidal fish communities in the south·western Cape have a high density and biomass, implying that the fish are important con· sumers in the ntertidal zone. Stomach content analyses of 20 species were undertaken to ascertain which food resources are most heavily exploited and the extent to which the co-existing fish compete for the same food resources. Three prey types, arnphipods, isopods and polychaetes, occur in the diets of almost all the species examined and together comprise more than half the total volume consumed by 14 of the species. Despite the overlap in food types consumed, there was considerable subdivi· sion of the resource, much of which may be explained in terms of horizontal and vertical distribution patterns of the various fish species, their habitat preferences, mouth sizes and changes in diet during growth. The standing stock of food in the pools is thought to be too low to support the resident fish populations, suggesting that some food, at least, is obtained outside the pools while the tide is in. For this reason, the fish are considered to be concentrated in the pools at low tide, indicating that the availability of suitable pool habitats may be important in con· trolling the denSities of intertidal fish communities. Visbevolkings van die getysones van die suidwestelike Kaap het hoe digthede en biomassas, wat aandui dat die visse belangrike roofdiere van die sone is. Maaginhoudanalises van 20 spesies is ondemeem om vas te stel watter voedselbronne die meeste benut word en die mate van kompetisie tussen simpatriese vissoorte vir dieselfde voedselsoorte. Drie prooi-kategorieë, nI. Amphipoda, Isopod a en Polychaeta kom voor in al die spesies wat ondersoek is en vorm saam meer as die helfte van die totale volume wat deur 14 spesies geëet is. Ten spyte van die oorvleueling van voedselkategorieë, was daar heelwat verdeling van die bron, wat grotendeels verklaar kan word deur die horisontale en vertikale verspreidlngspatrone van die onderskeie visspesies se habitat· voorkeure, mondgroottes en verandering van dieet gedurende groei. Die gedagte bestaan dat die biomassa van die voedsel te laag is om die plaaslike visbevolking te onderhou, wat daarop duidat ten minste 'n gedeelte van die voedsel ver buite die poele gedurende hooggety verkry word. Daar word dus aangeneem dat die visse gedurende laaggety in die poele gekonsentreer is, wat aandui dat die beskikbaarheid van geskikte poelhabitatte belangrik kan wees ten opsigte van die beheer van die digtheid van die visbevolkings van die getysones.