Organização trófica da comunidade de peixes de poças de maré da Praia dos Castelhanos (ES), Atlântico sudoeste tropical

Abstract

items that comprising the diet of each species and using the similarity index of BrayCurtis, eight trophic groups were identified, five of carnivorous species, two of omnivorous and one of herbivorous. It is proposed that the main factors related to the formation of these trophic groups are the species convergence in the use of abundant food resources and variation in primary prey depending on the size of the predator, differences in microhabitat and trophic specialization of the species. The results of the canonical correlation analysis allowed relating the distribution of trophic groups in the tidepools with both the physicochemical conditions and the interaction between the availability of micro-habitats and the ecological relationships between the species. It is concluded that the trophic organization of the tidepool fish community of Praia dos Castelhanos is actually influenced by the environmental characteristics of the pools.