Environmental influences on distribution of four Sciaenidae species (Actinopterygii, Perciformes) in a tropical bay at Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

We sampled fish and measured environmental variables in the Sepetiba Bay, a tropical embayment at Southeastern Brazil. The aim was to assess environmental influences on distribution of four abundant species of Sciaenidae Micropogonias furnieri (Desmarest, 1823), Ctenosciaena gracilicirrhus (Metzelaar, 1919), Cynoscion leiarchus (Cuvier, 1830) and Menticirrhus americanus (Linnaeus, 1758) to test the habitat partition hypothesis. Samples were taken between June 1993 and July 1996, at three bay zones (outer, central and inner). Depth was the most important environmental variable to influence fish distribution, followed by transparency. M. furnieri showed significant negative correlation to depth, transparency and salinity, while C. gracilicirrhus showed the opposite situation. The highest densities of C. leiarchus occurred in the lowest temperature, while M. americanus did not showed preferences for any of the examined environmental variables. Spatial separation, mainly between M. furnieri and C. gracilicirrhus, seems to be the strategy developed to coexist in the Sepetiba Bay, with M. furnieri being more adapted to copy with harsh environmental conditions of the inner bay. The other three species, which use mostly the outer bay zone, seem to be restricted to more stable conditions, where influences from oceanic waters are more intense.

Spatial and temporal distribution of fish in Palmas bay, Ubatuba, Brazil

“…These juveniles probably use the area to feed during the summer and then spread to deeper water at other times of the year. The same results were found by Araújo (2006) at Sepetiba bay (Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil). This explains the lesser abundance of this species in the sample collected in winter in Palmas bay.…”

Spatiotemporal variations of the ichthyofaunal structure accompanying the seabob shrimp, Xiphopenaeus kroyeri (Crustacea: Penaeidae), fishery in important fishery areas of the Santa Catarina shore, Brazil

“…For MUTO et al (2000) the spatial organization exhibited by the ichthyofauna along a depth gradient in the São Sebastião system (southeastern Brazil) were closely related to the distribution of the water masses which are characterized by different combinations of salinities and temperatures. Even so, it is believed that the type of substrate will have influences on both prey and demersal fish distribution, as most species live in a close association with the bottom (ARAÚJO et al 2006a).…”

Trophic relationships among fish assemblages on a mudflat within a Brazilian Marine protected area

“…For example, BALDÓ and DRAKE (2002) suggested that the mysids (hyperbenthic) replace copepods (zooplanktonic) progressively in the diet of juvenile fish (2006) found that the grazing fish, which kept a roughly balanced diet between microphytobenthos and detritus, changed their exclusively herbivorous diet during summer to prey on nematofauna during winter on a mudflat. This fluidity among guilds exists because ecological interactions among species are intensified at certain periods, with the less competitive species or species more susceptible to predation being excluded or replaced by species with greater adaptability to environmental pressures (ARAÚJO et al, 2006). Although ontogenetic changes were not specifically examined in the present study, some authors have asserted that certain species may segregate into different guilds during growth (LEGUERRIERA et al, 2007;ABDURAHIMAN et al, 2010).…”