O uso de habitats costeiros como berçário de peixes no Ceará

Abstract

Coastal habitats used by juvenile fish are essential to the life cycle of these species. Some of these species remain near coastal habitats until adulthood, while others only use these habitats as nurseries, then migrating, for example, to reef areas in deeper waters. The present study aimed to evaluate the use of coastal habitats as nursery areas for fish. A survey of studies on fish populations conducted in coastal habitats on the coast of Ceará State, northeastern Brazil was performed. Due to the lack of previous studies in habitats of seagrass beds and sandy beaches in the region, these habitats were sampled in the shallow waters of the Icapui city coast. In the seagrass bed, after 43 hauls conducted during one year, 460 specimens of fish, belonging to 21 species and 13 families were collected, with emphasis on species Lutjanus analis and Ulaema lefroyi, both in relation to the abundance and the frequency of occurrence. On the sandy beach, ten trawls were conducted between March and June 2013, capturing 518 fish belonging to 30 species and 20 families, with emphasis on the species Larimus breviceps and Anchoviella lepidentostole for its high relative abundances and on the species Polydactylus oligodon and Menticirrhus littoralis for their high frequencies of occurrence. In both habitats, the vast majority of fish caught were juveniles. The present study included also the list of species occurring in the young phase in estuarine habitats, mangrove roots and tide pools of the region obtained from previous studies. A total of 100 juvenile fish species were identified in these coastal habitats occurring in the state of Ceará. The largest number of species in the juvenile stage was found in the estuary, with 49 species, followed by the sandy beach with 27 species, tide pools with 21 species, seagrass beds with 18 species and mangrove proproots with 15 species. Cluster analysis showed greater similarity between the fish fauna composition from mangrove proproots and tide pools, corresponding mostly to juvenile reef fish. These results highlight the importance of coastal habitats as nursery areas for reef fish.