Larval fish of the Campos Basin, southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Studies on the vertical distribution of larval fish in water masses along the Brazilian coast are very rare. The present study aimed to identify larval fish occurring in the surface (1 m) layer and at depth in four water masses of the Campos Basin, southeastern Brazil: South Atlantic Central Water (SACW) (250 m), Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) (800 m), Upper Circumpolar Deep Water (UCDW) (1,200 m) and North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) (2,300 m). Material used in this study was obtained in 2009 through nocturnal horizontal stratified hauls using a Multinet (500 μm mesh size) during both rainy (February to April) and dry periods (August to September). A total of 10,978 fish larvae comprising 169 taxa were identified during the rainy (n = 6,015) and dry (n = 4,963) periods. The number of taxa decreased as the sampling depth increased. Larvae of Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Scombridae dominated in samples collected in the surface layer, while Sternoptychidae and Myctophidae were the most representative families in SACW. The other three water masses were dominated by Gonostomatidae larvae.

Seasonal variability of ichthyoneuston assemblage on the continental shelf and slope of the Southwest Atlantic Ocean, Brazil (20°–23°S)

“…Many species considered rare in the present study were very abundant in the subsurface water in Campos Basin (Bonecker et al, 2017(Bonecker et al, , 2012 and in deeper waters in other areas of the Brazilian coast (Goçalo, Katsuragawa, & Silveira, 2011;Namiki et al, 2017). Therefore, the low frequency and abundance of some species in the present study probably reflect net avoidance of fish larvae during the day, due to the visual and swimming capacity of larger larvae (Doyle, 1992;Katsuragawa & Matsuura, 1990), or because they are pseudoneuston species, which means that their center of distribution occurs at deeper layers and the surface is the edge of their vertical range of distribution (Hempel & Weikert, 1972).…”

“…Differences in composition of the neuston collected during the day and at night were already observed across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans (Olivar et al, 2015). Bernardes et al, 2005), was more abundant in the neustonic layer than in samples collected at 1 m depth of the same area (Bonecker et al, 2012). The presence of demersal species in the neustonic layer during larval stage seems to be a strategy to enhance the probability of capture prey, because neustonic species have adaptations that enable them to feed more successfully in the neuston (Tully & O'Céidigh, 1989).…”

“…According to Hempel and Weikert (), mullid larvae concentrated in the surface during the day and moved to the subsurface layer at night. Upeneus parvus, which is a demersal species found in mud and sand bottom during the adult stage (Bernardes et al, ), was more abundant in the neustonic layer than in samples collected at 1 m depth of the same area (Bonecker et al, ). The presence of demersal species in the neustonic layer during larval stage seems to be a strategy to enhance the probability of capture prey, because neustonic species have adaptations that enable them to feed more successfully in the neuston (Tully & O'Céidigh, ).…”

Catálogo dos estágios iniciais de desenvolvimento dos peixes da bacia de Campos

“…Estudos sobre ictioplâncton desenvolvidos ao longo da costa brasileira também auxiliam na identificação, uma vez que fornecem uma lista das espécies registradas (Bonecker et al, 2013). Outra ferramenta importante para a identificação das larvas de peixes em nível taxonômico de espécie é o intercâm-bio de conhecimento entre os pesquisadores do Brasil e do exterior.…”

Ocorrência e identificação de larvas de Istiophoridae e ovos de Xiphiidae na Costa Sudeste Brasileira

“…In this study, the samples were collected at five depths: surface, 250m, 800m, 1200m and 2300m and a total of 10,978 fish larvae were collected. Seventy five families and 169 taxa were identified, and even so, only two specimen of Istiophoridae were collected, both in the superficial water mass, which could not be identified to a smaller taxonomic level (BONECKER et al, 2012). The present study, even with limited sampling effort, collected 12 billfish larvae and two eggs, more than any other studies from Brazilian coast previously described.…”