I examined the diet of banded drumLarimus fasciatuscollected off North Carolina during September 1973–September 1976. Of the 42 food items ingested, the mysid shrimpNeomysis americanadominated the diet for all fish size-groups (19–182 mm standard length) across years and seasons. A sergestid shrimpAcetes arnericanus, calanoid copepods, fish remains, and chaetognaths were also important foods. Some diet changes occurred with increasing fish size; the smallest prey, calanoid copepods, were eaten more by smaller fish and were replaced in the diet of larger fish by the largerA. americanus. Data on stomach fullness indicated that banded drums fed maximally in summer and autumn. Copepods were eaten more during winter,N. americanain spring and summer,A. americanusin summer and autumn, and chaetognaths in autumn. Fish were eaten least during summer and about equally in other seasons. Banded drum appeared to be an opportunistic, perhaps nocturnal (or low light intensity), plankton feeder.