Comparison of spawning patterns of the Brazilian sardine (Sardinella brasiliensis) and anchoita (Engrautis anchoita) in Ubatuba region, southern Brazil during 1985 through 1988

The Brazilian sardine (Sardinella brasiliensis) and anchoita (Engrautis anchoita) inhabit the southeastern Brazilian Bight. The former spawns at night (21:00-03:00) in coastal region during late-spring and summer, meanwhile, the latter spawns all year-around, mainly in coastal region during summer and in neritic region during winter. The spawning time of E. anchoita was observed all day long, but more intensively at night. During summer there occurs a strong vertical stratification of water masses. The spawning of S. brasiliensis occurs in surface mixed layer, while that of E. anchoita occurs beneath the thermocline inside the cool South Atlantic Central Water which occupies the bottom layer during late spring and summer. However, the sardine and anchovy egss and larvae were found inside both the upper tropical and lower cold water masses, but predominantly above thermocline in this regionNeste trabalho são analisados os padrões sazonais de desova da sardinha-verdadeira, Sardinella brasiliensis, e da anchoita, Engraulis anchoita, baseado em dados coletados em águas costeiras de Ubatuba (SP), entre 1985 e 1988. Ambas as espécies habitam a costa sudeste do Brasil A primeira efetua desova durante a noite (21:00 - 23:00 h) na região costeira durante o fim da primavera e o verão, enquanto que a segunda desova durante todo o ano, principalmente na região costeira durante o verão e na região nerítica durante o inverno. A desova da anchoita foi observada ao longo de todo o dia, porém com mais intensidade à noite. No verão, ocorre uma forte estratificação vertical das massas d'água. A desova da sardinha-verdadeira ocorre na camada superficial de mistura, enquanto que a da anchoita ocorre abaixo da termoclina, nas águas frias da "Água Central do Atlântico Sul" (ACAS), que ocupam as camadas do fundo durante o verão. Entretanto, ovos e larvas de ambas as espécies foram encontrados tanto na camada superior, de água tropical, como na camada inferior, de água fria, embora predominantemente acima da termoclina

Larval fish of the Campos Basin, southeastern Brazil

Studies on the vertical distribution of larval fish in water masses along the Brazilian coast are very rare. The present study aimed to identify larval fish occurring in the surface (1 m) layer and at depth in four water masses of the Campos Basin, southeastern Brazil: South Atlantic Central Water (SACW) (250 m), Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) (800 m), Upper Circumpolar Deep Water (UCDW) (1,200 m) and North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) (2,300 m). Material used in this study was obtained in 2009 through nocturnal horizontal stratified hauls using a Multinet (500 μm mesh size) during both rainy (February to April) and dry periods (August to September). A total of 10,978 fish larvae comprising 169 taxa were identified during the rainy (n = 6,015) and dry (n = 4,963) periods. The number of taxa decreased as the sampling depth increased. Larvae of Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Scombridae dominated in samples collected in the surface layer, while Sternoptychidae and Myctophidae were the most representative families in SACW. The other three water masses were dominated by Gonostomatidae larvae