Meso- and Bathypelagic Prawns of the Superfamilies Penaeoidea Rafinesque, 1815 and Sergestoidea Dana, 1852 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Dendrobranchiata) from Southwestern Atlantic: New Records and Bathymetric Distribution

Abstract

The superfamilies Penaeoidea Rafinesque, 1815 and Sergestoidea Dana, 1852 are composed by prawns, which occur from costal zones to deep-sea zones, reaching around 5000 m of depth. However, despite the broad distribution of these deep-sea prawns in Southwestern Atlantic (Brazilian waters), these records are restrict to South and Southwest regions. Based on that, in this paper we provide the taxonomic composition of deep-sea prawns occurring in the Northeastern Brazil, highlighting aspects such as geographic and bathymetric distributions. All material was provided by surveys performed in the Northeastern of Brazil in two different areas: the Potiguar Basin, located in the northeast of Brazil between the States of Ceara (CE) and Rio Grande do Norte (RN) in the year of 2011, with samples were performed by bottom trawls net along the continental slope. Later, the pelagic species were collected in the years of 2015 and 2017, covering the States between Alagoas and Ceara and encompassing the Rocas Atoll and Fernando de Noronha Archipelago through of midwater tows. In both campaigns, 12 species were collected belonging to 4 families, being subdivided in: Aristeidae Wood-Mason in Wood-Mason & Alcock, 1891 (4 species); Benthesicymidae Wood-Mason in Wood-Mason & Alcock, 1891 (2 species); Penaeidae Rafinesque, 1815 (4 species) and Sergestidae Dana, 1852 (2 species). Thereby, we increase the knowledge about the occurrence of these deep-sea prawns in Brazilian waters.