José de Anchieta C. C. Nunes

New occurrences of the nonindigenous orange cup corals Tubastraea coccinea and T. tagusensis (Scleractinia: Dendrophylliidae) in Southwestern Atlantic

The genus Tubastraea , with natural occurrence in the Pacific Ocean, was reported for the first time in Brazil along the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Since then it has also been reported in other sites along the south and southeast Brazilian coasts in oil platforms and rocky shores. We describe for the first time the occurrence of Tubastraea tagusensis and T. coccinea in the Northeastern coast of Brazil. The corals were found in the state of Bahia, sitting on shipwrecks, marina jetties as well as occupying space on a coral reef.

Estuarine ichthyofauna of the Paraguaçu River, Todos os Santos Bay, Bahia, Brazil

Estuarios sao areas de reconhecida importância no desenvolvimento e refugio dos peixes e tambem grande fonte de recursos pesqueiros. Este artigo apresenta um inventario dos peixes do estuario do Rio Paraguacu, Baia de Todos os Santos, Bahia, Brasil. 28 pontos constituindo as tres secoes salinas que pode haver em um estuario tropical foram amostradas trimestralmente de marco de 2009 a fevereiro de 2010 com auxilio de redes de espera de fundo, de superficie, redes de arrasto manual e tarrafas. Um total de 4.097 individuos foram capturados, pertencendo a 7 especies de Chondrichthyes e 117 especies de Actinopterygii (83 generos e 49 familias). A maioria da extensao territorial do estuario foi amostrada para acessar maior variabilidade espacial na estrutura da assembleia de peixes. A curva de acumulacao de especies (rarefacao) apresentou estabilizacao com ½ das amostras. A estrutura geral da assembleia e descrita e comentada atraves de evidencias para uma nova organizacao espacial da fauna de peixes devido a efeitos de barragem a montante do estuario.

In situ effects of human disturbances on coral reef-fish assemblage structure: temporary and persisting changes are reflected as a result of intensive tourism

Non-lethal human disturbances are often drivers of change in animal population and community structure. To gauge their severity, short-term behaviour (e.g. avoidance and habituation) has been argued to be a sensitive measure. However, many of these behavioural changes may occur only if disturbance-free habitat is readily accessible. In coral-reef fish, we tested whether human disturbances from intensive (i.e. loud music, swimming, snorkelling, splashing and fish feeding by numerous visitors) tourist visitations resulted in assemblage structure shifts led by short-term behaviour. We monitored fish assemblage before, during and after tourist visitations to monitor changes associated with behaviour. Additionally, we monitored two adjacent reefs not visited by tourists because of difficult approach by boat. We posited that if short-term benefits of relocating to disturbance-free habitat outweigh the costs of tolerating disturbances, fish assemblage structure should shift along with tourist visitation levels. By contrast, if sensitive species are unable or unwilling to relocate, we predicted greater levels of assemblage heterogeneity between the visited and control reefs. Our results showed that in situ human visitations led to significant shifts in assemblage structure, resulting from short-term behavioural changes. Additionally, we showed significant between-reefs differences, whereby control reefs were characterised by higher species richness, larger fish sizes and variations in relative trophic guild prevalence. Our results suggest that short-term relocations to adjacent disturbance-free reefs may not mitigate the effects of human disturbances.

Reef fishes captured by recreational spearfishing on reefs of Bahia State, northeast Brazil

Although recreational spearfishing is a growing activity, its impacts are poorly understood. This paper aims to present data on reef fishes captured by recreational spearfishing in the Bahia State, Northeastern Brazil. We analyzed 168 photos of spearfishing conducted in the reefs of this region between 2006 and 2008. A total of 1.121 fish belonging to 48 species were captured in three sub-regions of the Bahia coastline: Litoral Norte (LN), Salvador (SSA) and Baixo Sul (BS). The main species caught were: Scomberomorus brasiliensis (n = 191), Sphyraena barracuda (n = 153), Lutjanus jocu (n = 150) and Caranx bartholomaei (n = 141); these four species represented 56.5% of total captures. Over the sampling period, the highest values of catch rates per day were observed at BS, followed by SSA and LN. There were significant between-sites differences in the number of fish in the number of species caught. However, there were no significant between-years differences in the number of fish and numbers of species caught. The trophic classification of fish showed that carnivores (n = 623) were more frequently captured, followed by piscivores (n = 371), herbivores (n = 101) and invertivores (n = 26). The results showed that high sized, top predatory fishes, were the main targets, although other trophic levels were also captured.

Effect of phase shift from corals to Zoantharia on reef fish assemblages.

Consequences of reef phase shifts on fish communities remain poorly understood. Studies on the causes, effects and consequences of phase shifts on reef fish communities have only been considered for coral-to-macroalgae shifts. Therefore, there is a large information gap regarding the consequences of novel phase shifts and how these kinds of phase shifts impact on fish assemblages. This study aimed to compare the fish assemblages on reefs under normal conditions (relatively high cover of corals) to those which have shifted to a dominance of the zoantharian Palythoa cf. variabilis on coral reefs in Todos os Santos Bay (TSB), Brazilian eastern coast. We examined eight reefs, where we estimated cover of corals and P. cf. variabilis and coral reef fish richness, abundance and body size. Fish richness differed significantly between normal reefs (48 species) and phase-shift reefs (38 species), a 20% reduction in species. However there was no difference in fish abundance between normal and phase shift reefs. One fish species, Chaetodon striatus, was significantly less abundant on normal reefs. The differences in fish assemblages between different reef phases was due to differences in trophic groups of fish; on normal reefs carnivorous fishes were more abundant, while on phase shift reefs mobile invertivores dominated.

Shallow reef fish communities of South Bahia coast, Brazil

This study aims to describe for the first time the fish community structure of five shallow reefs located off the cities of Santa Cruz de Cabralia and Porto Seguro (Araripe-AR, Itacipanema-IT, Alagados-AL, Naufragio-NA and Recife de Fora Marine Park-RF Reefs), South Bahia, Northeastern Brazil. Fish density and richness were assessed through stationary point counts of 2 m radius for small cryptic species and 3 m for more conspicuous species. A total of 1 802 fishes belonging to 23 families and 54 species were observed. The most abundant species were the pomacentrids Stegastes fuscus and Abudefduf saxatilis. No significant differences were found for species richness or density of conspicuous species, but density of small cryptic species was low on reefs with high bottom rugosity, where there were more holes and crevices available. Herbivores were dominant on AR, AL and RF, invertivores on AL and both groups were dominant on IT. Some habitat variables such as rugosity and benthic cover were strongly correlated to species and sites. High bottom heterogeneity was found among reefs but they still presented similar species composition, richness and density. Within small-scale studies, such similarities in composition and richness are to be expected for reef fish communities, as most of the species concerned have a wide distribution range.

The Spanish hogfish Bodianus rufus (Labridae) acting as cleaner of nocturnal fish in the north-east of Brazil

This work reports Bodianus rufus (Labridae) cleaning three clients with nocturnal habits, Rypticus saponaceus (Serranidae), Myripristis jacobus (Holocentridae) and Odontoscion dentex (Sciaenidae) during the day. Our data reinforces the hypothesis that the proximity of temporary cleaning stations to nocturnal fish shelters reduces the exposure of clients to potential predators.

New records of the alien cup-corals (Tubastraea spp.) within estuarine and reef systems in Todos os Santos Bay, Southwestern Atlantic

BackgroundThe alien cup-coral Tubastraea spp. has been increasingly reported in the Southwestern Atlantic since the 1980s. More recently it was observed on the East coast of Brazil, the area with the highest biodiversity in the Southwest Atlantic. In the present study, we report the actual distribution of Tubastraea tagusensis and Tubastraea coccinea around Todos os Santos Bay (TSB), an important system in the Southwest Atlantic coast.ResultsWe mapped the geographic expansion of Tubastraea tagusensis and Tubastraea coccinea at 11 sites in estuarine and 2 in reef systems at TSB.ConclusionsThe findings from our study will contribute to monitor alien expansion and implement management actions to control these invasions on the Brazilian coast.

The twinspot bass Serranus flaviventris (Serranidae) as follower of the goldspotted eel Myrichthys ocellatus (Ophichthidae) in north-eastern Brazil, with notes on other serranids

This paper reports the twinspot bass Serranus flaviventris as followers of the goldspotted eel Myrichthys ocellatus in Tinhare Island, Bahia State, north-eastern Brazil. The goldspotted eel disturbs the sediment in coastal waters exposing prey in which the the twinspot bass forages. This note describes for the first time the following behaviour between Serranus and Anguiliform fish. In the remainder of the note we present a review of this behaviour for small serranids in shallow waters of Bahia, north-eastern Brazil.

Flight response of the barber surgeonfish, Acanthurus bahianus Castelnau, 1855 (Teleostei: Acanthuridae), to spearfisher presence

Ao serem confrontadas por predadores, as presas precisam tomar decisoes economicas, escolhendo entre continuar com sua atividade atual ou fugir. Distância Inicial de Fuga (DIF), a distância a qual um organismo comeca a fugir de uma ameaca que se aproxima, tem sido utilizada para indicar o nivel de medo do animal e um modo para se examinar fatores que influenciam nas decisoes de fuga. Aqui nos investigamos como a DIF do peixe cirurgiao, Acanthurus bahianus , responde a presenca de pescadores subaquaticos em uma tradicional area de pesca no nordeste do Brasil. Especificamente, investigamos se a DIF foi influenciada pelo tamanho do corpo e do grupo; pela heterogeneidade das especies na formacao de grupos; e pela distância para refugio. Diferencas significativas na DIF foram observadas com o aumento no tamanho do corpo. Nos nao encontramos nenhuma relacao significativa da DIF com o tamanho ou formacao do grupo, nem com a distância para refugio. Preferencias na formacao de grupos com A. bahianus foram observadas entre algumas especies,e maiores DIF foram associadas com substratos menos abrigados. Resultados obtidos aqui suportam teorias sugerindo que pescadores subaquaticos influenciam no comportamento dos peixes. Nos destacamos que pesquisas futuras devem focar nos impactos indiretos da pesca subaquatica na estrutura das comunidades marinhas, enfatizando o comportamento anti-predador de peixes juvenis e adultos alvo da pesca.