Juvenile (128-244 mm fork length) pink snapper, Pristipomoides filamentosus, were caught by hook and line from 60-90 m depths offshore of Kaneohe Bay, windward Oahu, Hawaii, during February-August 1994, About one-half of the 180 specimens were intercepted by scuba divers 1518 m below the sea surface and individually "bagged" live before they were retrieved for the remaining distance to the surface. The other half were retrieved directly by fishing line to the surface ("unbagged"J; these latter fish thus remained at a continual risk of prey loss from regurgitation while they were stressed by the full extent ofpressure change. The retained stomach contents ofbagged and unbagged fish were compared on the basis of volume and type offood and on the size ofindividual prey items. Bagged samples ofjuvenile snapper on average retained a 116% (95% CI=70-157%) greater volume of prey than unbagged snapper; bagged snapper also had more types and greater maximum body sizes of prey than did unbagged fish. These results are discussed in terms of designing quantitative diet studies for juvenile snapper and other deep-water physoclistous fishes.