Morfología y taxonomía de Scinaia halliae (Scinaiaceae, Rhodophyta) en el litoral de Bahia y Espírito Santo, Brasil

The predation of pinnipeds by sharks in tropical or temperate regions is a significant cause of mortality of this group and little is known about these interactions off the Brazilian coast, since the records of these species are occasional, mainly in the north-eastern region. The objective of this study is to report the predator–prey interactions between sub-Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis) and cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis) off the coast of Bahia. The present study was based on numbers of pinnipeds stranded, where there had been observed two specimens of sub-Antarctic fur seal, A. tropicalis. The diagnostic identification of shark predators was through the analysis of the morphology and conditions of the wounds compared with specialized literature. The measures are fit in category III, to whose height and width they are similar, suggesting to have been inferred for I. plutodus. This study confirms the necessity for continuing to study the interactions between sharks and pinnipeds in order to better understand the predator–prey relations off the Brazilian coast, as well as to question the extent to which these interactions cause the hindrance of this group.

The composition of crustacean fauna in coastal environments on the southeastern coast of Bahia still remains poorly known. The objective of this study was to survey sublittoral stomatopod and decapod (suborder Pleocyemata) from the coast of Ilheus (14o47’55”S, 39o02’01”W). Samples were carried out from March 2003 to August 2004, at depths varying from 15 to 50 m. A total of 41 species, assigned to 17 families, was collected. The stomatopods were represented by 3 species in the family Squillidae. The Pleocyemata were represented by 38 species, belonging to 16 families. The most representative families in terms of number species were Mithracidae and Portunidae, both represented in our samples by 5 species. Squilla obtusa, Iliacantha liodactylus, Macrocoeloma concavum and M. septemspinosum had not been previously recorded south of Todos os Santos bay, northern coast of Bahia. Nematopalaemon schmitti, Exhippolysmata oplophoroides, Persephona lichtensteinii, P. mediterranea and Libinia ferreirae are referred from the coast of Bahia for the first time, filling gaps in their distribution along the Brazilian coast

Audubon's Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri Lesson 1839) is a tropical seabird occurring mainly between southern Canada and the southeast coast of Brazil. Puffinus lherminieri is considered Critically Endangered on the Brazilian Red List because it only occurs in two known localities, both of which contain very small populations. However, many offshore islands along the Brazilian coast are poorly known and the discovery of new colonies would be of considerable significance for the conservation of this species. The aim of this study was to estimate the potential geographic distribution of Audubon's Shearwater in Brazil, based on ecological niche model (ENM) using Maxent algorithm with layers obtained from AquaMaps environmental dataset. The ENM was based on 37 records for reproduction areas in North and South America. The model yielded a very broad potential distribution, covering most of the Atlantic coast ranging from Brazil to the US. When filtered for islands along the Brazilian coast, the model indicates higher levels of environmental suitability near the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo and Bahia. However, P. lherminieri prefers islands in environments with warm saline water. Thus, based on the influence of currents that act on the Brazilian coast we can infer undiscovered colonies are most likely to occur on islands on coast of Bahia, Espírito Santo and extreme north of the Rio de Janeiro. These should be intensively surveyed while the islands south of Cabo Frio should be discarded. The existence of new populations would have profound effects on the conservation status of this enigmatic and rarely seen seabird.

Three new species of calcareous sponges from the coast of Bahia State, NE Brazil are described. All of them belong to the genus Paraleucilla (Calcaronea, Leucosolenida, Amphoriscidae): P. solangeae sp. nov., P. oca sp. nov., and P. incomposita sp. nov. The number of species recorded from the Bahia coast has thus increased from 10 to 13. Including these new species, there are now 50 calcareous sponge species known from the entire Brazilian coast. Paraleucilla is now composed of 11 species, six of them occurring along the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. The remaining species occur mainly in the Indian Ocean, and also in the Pacific Ocean, Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea. An identification key for all Paraleucilla species is provided. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Professor Solange Peixinho, to acknowledge her contribution to our understanding of the biodiversity of Calcarea from the Bahia coast in Brazil.

The phytoplankton community is the first link in the aquatic trophic chain and knowledge of its composition is an important tool for ecological characterization; including as potential indicator of anthropic impacts. The southern coast of Bahia is one of the best preserved parts of the Brazilian coast, however, little is known about its biodiversity, especially on marine phycoflora. With the objective of characterizing the composition of microphytoplankton (> 20 µm) in this region, samples were collected by a horizontal dredger using a plankton net (20 µm mesh size) to study the community composition. Water samples were taken from the subsurface using a Van Dorn bottle in order to analyze phytoplanktonic cell concentration. A total of 149 taxa were identified, distributed in the following phyla: Bacillariophyta, Miozoa, Cyanobacteria, Euglenophyta, Haptophyta, and Ochrophyta. Diatoms (63%) and dinoflagellates (26%) were the most representative groups in the specific composition. 43 new taxonomic occurrences were recorded for the coasts of Bahia, Northeastern Brazilian coast, and Brazilian coast.

Este estudo relata a primeira ocorrência de Boodlea composita (Harv.) F.Brand (Chlorophyta) para o litoral nordeste do Brasil e o segundo registro para o litoral brasileiro. O material foi coletado ao longo do litoral da Bahia (08º20'07"-18º20'07''S e 30º20'37"-46º36'59"W). A distribuição de B. composita foi ampliada no litoral do Brasil, uma vez que esta era conhecida apenas para a região sudeste, especificamente para Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro. No Atlântico Americano, B. composita apresenta limite norte de distribuição nas Bermudas e limite sul, no Rio de Janeiro.

Sandy beaches contamination by arsenic, a result of nearshore sediment diagenesis and transport (Brazilian coastline)

(Spongites yendoi (Foslie) Chamberlain (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) on the coast of Bahia, Brazil). We report the first occurrence of S. yendoi (Foslie) Chamberlain on the northeastern coast of Brazil, and the second record of the species on the Brazilian coast. We collected specimens on two beaches in the cities of Salvador and Camacari, Bahia, Brazil. The species were identified by the presence of monomerous thallus construction, trichocytes arranged in horizontal fields, central columella, and tetrasporangial conceptacle morphometry. Our record extends the distribution range of this species into Brazilian waters.

Bioaccumulation of chemical elements in fish from areas affected by oil on the coast of Bahia, Brazil

The island pipefish (Anarchopterus tectus Dawson, 1978) ranges from Florida in the USA to Venezuela in Western North Atlantic (Dawson, 1978, 1982; Fritzche & Vincent, 2002), although some authors state that its distribution extends southwards to Argentina in western South Atlantic (e.g. Robins & Ray, 1986; Carvalho-Filho, 1999; Froese & Pauly, 2008). This latter claim, however, is in error and resulted from a lapsus calami (see Dawson, 1978). Here we record A. tectus from north-eastern and eastern Brazil based on museum specimens and an underwater photograph, thus extending its range considerably southwards and including this species among the reef fish fauna of western South Atlantic. We examined three specimens housed in two Brazilian scientific collections, MZUSP (Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo) and ZUEC (Museu de Zoologia da Universidade Estadual de Campinas). The northernmost specimen is MZUSP 46335, a female 99.2 mm SL (standard length), 18+35 rings, 11 pectoral-fin rays, collected at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (~03°50'S 32°25'W), off north-eastern Brazil. Specimen MZUSP 64634 is a male 93.7 mm SL, 17+33 rings, 11 pectoral-fin rays, collected at Riacho Doce (~09°34'S 35°40'W), Alagoas, coastal north-eastern Brazil. The southernmost specimen is ZUEC 6312, a juvenile male 37.5 mm SL, 17+34 rings, 11 pectoral-fin rays, collected at Praia do Forte, Mata de Sao Joao (~12°35'S 38°01'W), Bahia, coastal eastern Brazil. The latter specimen was photographed alive soon after collection (Figure 1). The counts of the three specimens are within the range reported for A. tectus by Dawson (1982). An individual with the diagnostic upwards arched short snout, and head and body cirri, was photographed underwater (Figure 2) at Abrolhos Archipelago off Bahia coast (~17°59'S 38°40'W), a little southwards to the locality of the ZUEC specimen. In addition to the three specimens housed in Brazilian collections, a specimen (UFLA 19240), identified as Anarchopterus tectus by C.E. Dawson in August 1977 and collected at ‘Isla Itaparica’ (= Ilha de Itaparica) (~13°04'S 38°46'W), Bahia, Brazil, is displayed at the FLMNH Ichthyology Master Database of the University of Florida Fish Collection, searchable at http://www.flmnh. ufl.edu/scripts/dbs/fish_pub_proc.asp. It strikes us that the UFLA specimen is not referred to in the revision of western Atlantic pipefishes (Dawson, 1982), the more so as the identifier of this specimen is the author of A. tectus (Dawson, 1978). This specimen apparently went overlooked by further authors, and the southernmost reported record for A. tectus remained Venezuela in the western North Atlantic (Dawson, 1978, 1982; Fritzche & Vincent, 2002), the mistaken southward records notwithstanding. Our report extends the known distribution range for this reef pipefish about 4000 km southwards in straight line and about 5500 km of coastline, and its occurrence in western South Atlantic is substantiated by at least four museum specimens.

Although leptocephali are very conspicuous in plankton samples little is known about their occurrence and distribution along the Brazilian coast. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the leptocephali and their distribution pattern along the eastern Brazilian coast, which is limited in the north by Real River (12°S) and in the south by São Tomé Cape (23°S). Samples were collected during three oceanographic cruises conducted on October–December 1998, May–July 1999 and March–May 2000. Samplings were done using a bongo net with mesh apertures of 330 and 500 µm. The net was towed obliquely and the maximum depth was 200 m. A total of 13 families, 12 genera and 29 species of leptocephali were identified in the study area. Most taxa identified had already been recorded as adult, but the larval phase of some of them had not been identified for this region yet. Among them, Derichthyidae, Avocettina paucipora and Tiluropsis had not been recorded for this region either as adult or as larvae. Most taxa occurred mainly along the Bahia coast but some species were collected strictly in the southern region of the study area.

A synthesis on the spread of the tailing plumes resulting from the Fundão dam collapse along the Brazilian coast: Integrating evidence from multiple sources.

Several specimens of calcareous sponges were sampled on artificial substrates of a recreational marina in Salvador, Bahia state, on the northeastern coast of Brazil. They belong to four species, two of which are new: Leucandra serrata, Paraleucilla incomposita, Sycon bellum sp. nov., and S. avus sp. nov. Leucandra serrata is recorded for the first time at the coast of Bahia, filling a large gap in the geographical distribution of this species, while the description of the specimens of P. incomposita revealed new characters that had previously been overlooked. Finally, the new species of Sycon described here differ from all the previously known species of the genus due to their skeletal organisation and spicule size. Our results increase the number of species known in Bahia from 13 to 17 and emphasise that areas with a large amount of artificial hard substrates can potentially harbour an interesting and unknown diversity of calcareous sponges.

Summary There are still only a few studies related to Bregmacerotidae larvae in Brazil, although these larvae are frequently collected in oceanic ichthyoplankton samples. Thus this study analyzes the occurrence and abundance of Bregmaceros larvae along the Brazilian central coast and describes larval characteristics. During three oceanographic cruises samples were collected between the Real River (12°S) and the Sao Tome Cape (22°S). Oblique hauls were conducted from a maximum depth of 200 m, using bongo nets of 330- and 500-μm mesh size. Among the 951 bregmacerotids collected, three species were identified corresponding to 89%Bregmaceros atlanticus, 8%Bregmaceros cantori and 3%Bregmaceros n. sp. B. atlanticus was widely distributed along the study area and was more frequent in stations situated beyond the 200-m isobath; this species was more abundant during the winter, showing a peak of density between Vitoria and the Sao Tome Cape (355 larvae per 10 m2). Bregmaceros cantori densities were very similar during the three cruises; the highest value (25.6 larvae per 10 m2) was recorded during the winter and higher concentrations were observed in neritic stations along the 200-m isobath. Bregmaceros n. sp. was rare in collections made during the three cruises; it was concentrated along the Bahia coast (12–18°S), and was more frequent in stations situated in the oceanic region. Bregmaceros atlanticus varying from 2.0 to 6.0 mm and Bregmaceros n. sp. larvae varying from 3.0 to 6.0 mm were present in all cruises, indicating that they spawn year-round. Bregmaceros cantori did not show a distribution pattern among the different length classes, probably associated with the fact that this species has a coastal distribution.

Throughout World War II, merchant and war ships were attacked off the coast of Brazil. Some of its wreckage floated to the northeast beaches. This article sought, then, an investigative centrality to what appeared on the coast of Sergipe and Bahia. Through interviews and documentary research, it was possible to develop a historical approach based on material culture. The act of collecting the rescued by the sea gave rise to a social practice known as malafogados. Thus, through the floating objects, the Brazilians thought their Battle of the Atlantic (1942-1945).