Environmental characterization and spatial distribution of fish fauna in estuaries in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil.

Abstract

RESUMOO presente estudo teve como objetivos identificar e caracterizar os principais fatores fisiográficos das áreas estuarinas em Pernambuco, assim como as ações antrópicas por elas sofridas; listar os peixes que vivem nesses estuários, atualizando as validações dos nomes científicos das espécies; e analisar a distribuição dos registros de ocorrência das espécies por estuário. Os dados para a análise dos estuários foram baseados em três trabalhos sobre áreas estuarinas em Pernambuco. As informações sobre a ictiofauna foram obtidas a partir de 25 monografias, dissertações, teses, livros e artigos científicos. Foram utilizadas imagens das áreas estuarinas obtidas através do aplicativo Google earth. Foram identificados 17 estuários em Pernambuco, onde a ictiofauna é pouco estudada. As maiores concentrações das pesquisas ocorreram no complexo estuarino de Itamaracá e no estuário do rio Formoso, porém para algumas áreas não existem informações sobre comunidade de peixes. Foram listadas 202 espécies de peixes válidas, sendo 52,5% delas associadas a recifes. Quanto à freqüência de ocorrência, Citharichthys spilopterus e Poecilia vivipara foram classificadas como muito freqüentes, enquanto Carangidae, Gerreidae, Ariidae e Haemulidae foram as famílias mais especiosas. Atualmente, as áreas estuarinas estão em acelerado processo de degradação devido aos aterros, despejos de esgotos domésticos e industriais, desenvolvimento urbano, viveiros de carcinicultura e construção/ampliação de portos em prol do crescimento econômico. Diante desse contexto, torna-se necessário que os órgãos de fomento à pesquisa em Pernambuco estimulem estudos nessas áreas para possibilitar uma pesca sustentável. Palavras 2 ABSTRACTThe aim of the present study was to gather data on estuaries in the state of Pernambuco and their fish fauna, identifying and characterizing the main physiographic traits of estuarine areas. Further aims were to study the anthropogenic influence over the estuaries, list the fish species (updating their scientific names) and analyze the distribution of species by estuary. The data for the analysis of the estuaries were based on three studies of estuarine areas in Pernambuco. Information on the fish fauna were obtained from 25 monographs, dissertations, theses, books and scientific articles. The images used were obtained from estuarine areas through the Google earth. Seventeen estuaries were identified in Pernambuco; there were few studies on the fish fauna of these estuaries. The largest number of studies addressed the estuarine environment of Itamaracá and Rio Formoso. No data on fish communities were found for some locations. Two hundred two valid species were listed, 52.5% were associated to reefs. Citharichthys spilopterus and Poecilia vivipara were classified as very frequent. Carangidae, Gerreidae, Ariidae and Haemulidae were the most species-rich families. Estuarine areas are currently suffering intense degradation mainly due to landfills, domestic and industrial sewage, urban development, shrimp farms and harbor co...

The influence of seasonality on fish life stages and residence in surf zones: a case of study in a tropical region

“…However A. lepidentostole was not recorded on the assessment of ichthyofauna conducted with the same fishing gear on Jaguaribe beach (Lira & Teixeira 2008) and in the Channel of Santa Cruz (Vasconcelos Filho & Oliveira 1999), both located on Itamaracá Island. This might be due to the lower sampling effort evidenced in these studies in relation to the present one, since A. lepidentostole is commonly found in estuarine areas along the Brazilian coast (Paiva Filho et al 1986, Paiva Filho & Giannini 1990, Chaves & Vendel 2008, including Pernambuco (Paiva & Araújo 2010). Concerning the use of estuaries, A. lepidentostole is a semi-anadromous fish and its arrival in the estuary is through shoals composed by older individuals, whereas the younger ones remain in the sea to feed and grow, entering the estuary later, when they reach sexual maturity (Camara et al 2001).…”

“…L. grossidens is a marine (Anacleto & Gomes 2006) and estuarine (Schifino et al 2004) species, and is well distributed in the estuaries of Pernambuco (Paiva & Araújo 2010), including that of Jaguaribe river -Itamaracá (El-Deir 2005). In our study, only adult individuals were found in the rainy season and only juveniles in the dry season.…”

“…The species lives associated with marine phanerogam meadows (Arrivillaga & Baltz 1999, Ordoñez-López & García-Hernández 2005, Allen et al 2006, Prado & Heck Junior 2011. Since there is no record of this species in the estuaries of Pernambuco (Paiva & Araújo 2010), and the surf zone of Jaguaribe beach is rich in Halodule wrightii marine phanerogam (Kempf 1970), the species possibly migrates from the reef areas to graze in the surf zone during its recruitment period.…”

Distribution of estuarine fish fauna along coast of Brazil

“…For each species listed, the environment in which it occurs (FROESE;PAULY, 2012), its possible association with reefs based on Ferreira et al (1995), Humann and Deloach (2002), Paiva et al (2008;2009), Paiva and Araújo (2010), Froese and Pauly (2012) and its frequency of occurrence (FO%) were recorded. The latter was calculated by the ratio between the number of times a particular species occurred within each segment and the total number of segments analyzed, using the formula FO = Ts.100/T, in which Ts is the number of times a given species occurred within each segment and T is the total number of segments.…”

“…Among the 118 species found in segment V and/or segment VII, 62.0% are also included in the category of reef fish (FERREIRA et al, 1995;HUMANN;DELOACH, 2002;ARAÚJO, 2010;FROESE;PAULY, 2012). The diversity, abundance and biomass of fish increase in accordance with the complexity of the habitats (LOWE-MCCONNELL, 1999), as in the case of reef environments.…”