Melquiades Pinto Paiva

Sexual colour patterns in the sandperch Pseudopercis numida Ribeiro (Osteichthyes, Pinguipedidae)

This communication deals with the sexual colour patterns in the sandperch Pseudopercis numida Ribeiro, 1903, a benthonic fish of commercial importance, endemic to the Brazilian continental shelf, occurring off the coasts from Espirito Santo to Rio Grande do Sul States. The males have the head, the dorsal part of the body, and the pectoral and caudal fins blackishes, whereas the females have them brown-yellowishes. Such patterns are constant characters, not related to maturity or breeding seasons.

Estrutura de cardumes da sardinha-verdadeira, Sardinella brasiliensis (Steindachner, 1879), no estado do Rio de Janeiro (Brasil)

This paper deals with the schooling structure of Brazilian-sardine, Sardinella brasiliensis (Steindachner, 1879), in coastal waters of Rio de Janeiro State (Brazil). Samples were obtained from schools caught by commercial fishery in the area of Angra dos Reis (23o-24oS, 44o-45oW), from autumn/1999 to summer/2000, comprising 2,278 fishes. In average, males had total lengths and weights lower than those of females, with major differences in weights. Seasonal fluctuations of average total weights are associated with the annual reproduction cycle and condition factor, mainly in females. Sex-ratio was around 1:1, except in winter, when females were in majority. Mature males and females were found all along the year, with a peak in the spring-summer, showing a long reproduction period of successive spawning of reproducers in a same school, since individual spawning is complete. Total lengths when 50% of fishes are mature differ between males (18.2 cm) and females (19.2 cm). The schools can be considered as spawning schools, as they were found in a spawning ground, and consisted almost exclusively of adults, with a long annual reproduction period.

Idade e crescimento de Lopholatilus villarii Ribeiro no Sudeste do Brasil (Osteichthyes, Malacanthidae)

The tilefish, Lopholatihis villarii Ribeiro, 1915 is a commercially-important demersal fish, in the Southeast Brazil, inhabiting calcareous and rocky substrates of the outer shelf and upper continental slope. This study was based on readings of the scales age rings of 153 especimens, caught from March, 1995 to March, 1996. Scales were found to grow on an isometric proportion with fish length, and age rings are formed betvveen the third and fourth trimesters (winter and spring). The age groups of sampled fish varied from II to X years, and the growth equation in total length (cm) is Lt = I 13.4 [1-e -0.144 (t+ 1.4)] with the correspondem one in weight (kg): W, = 22.5[1-e -0.144 (1 + 14)]3 184 obtained from the weight/length regression equation: ln W = -11.95 + 3.184 In L. The tilefish has a low growth coefficient (K = 0.144), typical of camivorous specics of the fourth trophic levei, and it may reach, theoretically, 41 years of age.