The diet of chaetognath species were studied by examining the gut contents of 9466 specimens collected off Ubatuba region, São Paulo State. The greatest proportion of chaetognaths (7119 individuals) showed their gut contents empty. Copepods, mollusc eggs, appendicularians, cladocerans and annelids were the most common food items in the gut contents of juveniles and mature stages. Cannibalism occurred in low frequency. In Summer the copepods Temora stylifera and Paracalanus spp were more abundant, whereas Oncaea spp and mollusc eggs were heavily preyed in Winter. There was a clear trend of increasing prey size with the developmental stage.

Feeding behavior of juveniles of the planktonic shrimp Lucifer faxoni Borradaile was studied in the laboratory under light and dark conditions. Newly-hatched nauplii and metanauplii of Artemio were used as prey organisms. The fecding raie of L. foxoni was dependent on prey size and prey density, but was not obviously affected by light or dark conditions. The capture of the prey tended to increase with longer exposure time to prey. The maximum ingestion rate was 17.28 and 13.40 nauplii.L. faxoni .d- , in the light and in the dark conditions, respectively.

The distribution of chaetognath species off Ubatuba region, São Paulo State, Brazil, was studied during a program of multidisciplinary research. Ten species belonging to the genera Sagitta, Krohnita and Pterosagitta were identified. S. enflata was the dominant species followed by S.friderici and S. hispida. The species S. enflata, S. hispida, S. tenuis, S. bipunctata and JC pacifica were found in the Shelf water whereas S. serratodentata, S. minima, S. hexaptera and P. draco in the Tropical water. Only S. friderici was found associated to Coastal water. Hydrological conditions affected population structure, size of individuals and abundance.