Geographic variation in reef‐fish assemblages along the Brazilian coast

Abstract

The species composition of reef‐fish assemblages from nine Brazilian major coastal sites and four oceanic islands are compared. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was utilized to identify groups of sites based on similarity of composition, and to correlate environmental trends with such groups. Five distinct groups of sites were recognized: (1) the South and South‐eastern coastal reefs (from Guarapari Islands to Santa Catarina, the southernmost Brazilian reefs); (2) the North‐eastern coast (extending from the Manuel Luis Reefs to Abrolhos Archipelago); (3) Trindade Island; (4) Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas; and (5) St Paul’s Rocks. Water temperature, coral richness, distance from mainland, primary production and shelf width strongly correlated with the diversity and composition of the reef sites.

Genetic and morphometric differences between yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus, Lutjanidae) populations of the tropical West Atlantic

“…Gradients in morphometric characters are often associated to phenotypic plasticity (O'Reilly and Horn, 2004). The morphometric differences observed are not incompatible with the existence of discrete fish stocks, since patterns of reef fish community change along the Brazilian coast often show a north-south differentiation (Floeter et al, 2001), but this result contrasts with the homogeneity observed with both nuclear and mitochondrial data. It has been argued that morphometric analyses can sometimes detect subtle differences in stock structure which are undetectable by genetic data, particularly when stock structure is the result of very recent population subdivision (Cadrin, 2000).…”

Reef fish community structure on three islands of Itaipu, Southeast Brazil

“…Our results suggest that our three study sites display low reef fish species diversity when compared to other sites where reef fish studies have been conducted in Brazil (e g., Floeter et al, 2001). Compared with lower latitude sites, these differences may be explained by the natural north-south latitudinal decline in species richness of reef fishes on the Brazilian coast, a consequence of regional environmental gradients and local processes (Rocha, 2003;Floeter et al, 2004).…”

Reef fishes of the Anchieta Island State Park, Southwestern Atlantic, Brazil

“…Because the Southeastern Brazilian coast is located in a tropical and subtropical transition zone (Floeter et al 2001), the region's rocky reefs often present higher local (alpha) diversity of reef fishes than coralline reefs (e.g. Moura & Francini-Filho 2005, Gibran & Moura 2012, and may be considered biodiversity hotspots, akin to "marginal" areas of other biogeographic regions (Aburto-Oropeza & Balart 2001, Sala et al 2012.…”