Diel changes in food and feeding activity of sciaenid fishes from the South-western Atlantic, Brazil

Abstract

Food habits and daily feeding activity of fish populations are important ecological variables for understanding their role in the ecosystem. Diel changes in feeding activity and dietary composition of juvenile whitemouth croaker Micropogonias furnieri, shortfin corvina Isopisthus parvipinnis, shorthead drum Larimus breviceps and of juvenile and adult banded croaker Paralonchurus brasiliensis were investigated from samples taken over a 24 hours period from 4 to 5 September 1987 on the continental shelf off South-eastern Brazil. Whitemouth croaker and banded croaker had a benthic diet based on polychaetes and some caridean shrimps and showed no diel feeding pattern. Shortfin corvina and shorthead drum fed on crustaceans and teleostean fish, the former species primarily on pelagic sergestid shrimps and benthic caridean shrimps, and the latter mainly on pelagic sergestid shrimps, mysidacean and benthic caridean shrimps. Shortfin corvina is primarily a diurnal feeder, but preyed on some items only at night. Shorthead drum is a night feeder, with minimum stomach fullness values between dawn and daytime, and maximum values between dusk and night time.Key words: diel feeding, food habits, Teleostei, Sciaenidae, South-western Atlantic. RESUMO Variações nictemerais na alimentação e na atividade alimentar de peixes Sciaenidae do Atlântico sudoeste, BrasilInformações sobre o hábito alimentar e a atividade alimentar diária de populações de peixes são variá-veis de fundamental importância para entender seu papel em um ecossistema aquático. Investigações sobre esses aspectos foram realizadas em jovens da corvina (Micropogonias furnieri), da tortinha (Isopisthus parvipinnis) e da oveva (Larimus breviceps) e em jovens e adultos de maria luiza (Paralonchurus brasiliensis), cujas amostras foram obtidas em um ciclo de 24 horas (4 a 5 de setembro de 1987), na plataforma continental do sudeste do Brasil. A corvina e a maria luiza se alimentaram, principalmente, de poliquetas e camarões carídeos e não apresentaram um padrão claro de atividade alimentar. A tortinha e a oveva apresentaram dieta semelhante, composta de crustáceos e peixes teleósteos; ambas tiveram como presas principais os camarões pelágicos sergestídeos e os camarões bentônicos carídeos, e a oveva, além dessas duas presas, misidáceos. A tortinha apresentou, principalmente, hábito alimentar diurno, mas se alimentou de algumas presas em períodos de escuro. A oveva apresentou hábito alimentar noturno, com registros dos maiores valores de repleção estomacal entre o anoitecer e o período de escuro.Palavras-chave: atividade alimentar diária, hábito alimentar, Teleostei, Sciaenidae, Atlântico sudoeste.Rev. Brasil. Biol., 198 SOARES, L.

Feeding habits of Macrodon ancylodon (Actinopterygii, Sciaenidae) in northeast, Brazil

“…The presence of fishes and principally crustaceans in the stomach contents of Sciaenidae fishes is relatively common, as found in several studies, for instance of Bairdiella ronchus in south coast of Brazil (Vendel & Chaves 1998), Stellifer rastrifer in south coast of Brazil (Chaves & Vendel 2008), Micropogonias furnieri in Venezuela (Ruiz et al 2001), Isopisthus parvipinnis, Larimus breviceps in south-western Atlantic (Soares & Vazzoler 2001) and Menticirrhus americanus in southeastern Brazil (Turra et al 2012). …”

Feeding ecology of Pachyurus bonariensis Steindachner, 1879 (Sciaenidae: Perciformes) in the Ibicuí River, Southern Brazil: ontogenetic, seasonal and spatial variations

“…It is common for invertivorous fishes to show higher feeding activity than piscivorous ones (Lucena et al, 2000;Soares and Vazzoler, 2001;Vitule and Aranha, 2002;Braga, 2005;Fagundes et al, 2007). The variations in feeding activity among the seasons of the year are closely related to the lowest fullness degree obtained in the winter, with this season differing significantly from the others.…”

“…Regarding the Sciaenidae diet, marine species consume mainly decapod crustaceans (Lunardon, 1990;Vazzoler, 1991;Figueiredo and Vieira, 1998;Vendel and Chaves, 1998;Soares and Vazzoler, 2001;Branco et al, 2005). Freshwater sciaenids consume mainly fish and insects (Mourão and Torres, 1984;Hahn et al, 1997Hahn et al, , 1999Alvim and Peret, 2004;Bennemann et al, 2006;Fugi et al, 2007;Pacheco et al, 2008).…”

“…Among these genera, six are restricted to freshwater and four, Pachyurus, Pachypops, Plagioscion and Petilipinnis, are endemic to South America (Casatti, 2003). The food items most often consumed by members of this family are benthic animals such as crustaceans, polychaetes, mollusks, insects and small fish, and sometimes algae (Mourão and Torres, 1984;Lunardon, 1990;Vazzoler, 1991;Hahn et al, 1997;Figueiredo and Vieira, 1998;Vendel and Chaves, 1998;Hahn et al, 1999;Soares and Vazzoler, 2001;Alvim and Peret, 2004;Branco et al, 2005;Bennemann et al, 2006;Fugi et al, 2007;Pacheco et al, 2008). The sciaenid Pachyurus bonariensis occurs naturally in the rivers of the Paraná-Paraguay-Uruguay system, downstream from the Itaipu Reservoir, including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (Casatti, 2001) The P. bonariensis diet was studied once, in two lakes (locally called bays) of the Pantanal, where it had a diet composed mainly of Chironomidae and Ephemeroptera, with important ontogenetic shifts (Fugi et al, 2007).…”

Long-term variation in the ichthyofauna of Flamengo Cove, Ubatuba, São Paulo

“…Ubatuba is a city in the northern coast of São Paulo State, a place where marine fishes have been studied for decades and although several works regarding marine fish ecology were conducted off the coast of Ubatuba (e.g., Nonato et al, 1983;Braga & Goitein, 1984;Rossi-Wongtschowski & Paes, 1993;Cunningham, 1995;Giannini & Paiva Filho, 1995;Rocha & Rossi-Wongtschowski, 1998;Soares & Vazzoler, 2001;Vianna et al, 2004;Souza et al, 2008;Rocha et al, 2010;Gondolo et al, 2011), none of them dealt with long-term variation of ecological parameters in the southeastern region of Brazil. In addition, as stated by Rossi-Wongtschowski et al (2009) and Menezes (2011), although the marine fishes off the coast of São Paulo are relatively well known in relation to the rest of the Brazilian coast, much is yet to be done concerning our knowledge of these organisms.…”