Abstract
Abstract: This study aimed to present a checklist of marine fishes from coastal environments of the Island of Santa Catarina, including comments on the zoogeographic affinities, conservation status of each species, and functional groups. A total of 169 fish species belonging to 30 orders and 58 families were recorded. The most speciose families were Sciaenidae, Carangidae and, Engraulidae, representing 26,62% of the recorded species. Anchoa was the richest genus, followed by Sphoeroides and Cynoscion. Most of the species have their distribution limited to the western Atlantic, and two groups of fish were distinguished according to the species distributions: 1) species occurring in the Caribbean and in the Brazilian Province; and 2) Transatlantic species. Thirteen species are critically threatened, 10 are overexploited on the Brazilian coast, and 2 are threatened by extinction. Most of the species are either marine stragglers or marine migrants, and most of them are zoobenthivores, piscivores, or both.
Highlights
Diversity of estuarine environments is threatened by anthropogenic activities such as predatory fishing and port construction and activities, which can lead to species introduction, habitat loss, and environmental pollution
Members of the families Sciaenidae and Engraulidae possess a wide tolerance to variations in salinity and temperature, which favors their occurrence in both estuarine and coastal waters along the Atlantic coast of South America (Camargo & Isaac 2003)
The total species richness reported for the Island of Santa Catarina was relatively high when compared to other areas, such as Guaratuba Bay (87 spp.; Chaves & Corrêa 1998, Chaves & Vendel 2001) and Babitonga Bay (150 spp.; Vilar et al 2011)
Summary
Diversity of estuarine environments is threatened by anthropogenic activities such as predatory fishing and port construction and activities, which can lead to species introduction, habitat loss, and environmental pollution. The compilation of fish records from South Atlantic is important because it improves the understanding of the geographic distribution and macroecological aspects of marine and estuarine fishes (Barletta & Blaber 2007), and assists in strategic planning for the conservation of the species as well (Barletta et al, 2010). Despite the great variety of ecosystems, knowledge about fish assembly from the Island of Santa Catarina is scarce. This study aimed to present a checklist of marine fishes from different coastal environments of the Island of Santa Catarina through a compilation of unpublished and published information from the literature. Comments on the zoogeographic affinities, conservation status of each species, and functional groups are provided
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