Occurrence of larvae and juveniles of eucinostomus argenteus, eucinostomus gula, menticirrhus americanus, menticirrhus littoralis, umbrina coroides and micropogonias furniert at pontal do sul beach, Parana

Abstract

Despite its importance, most iclitliyoplankton studies in the South-Southeastern coast of Brazil, have been accomplished on the continental shelf. Regarding the beach environment, recognized as a nursery, little is known about the iclitliyoplankton. We analyzed 288 samples collected with a 18 by 2 in seine net, I mm mesh and a conical plankton net, with a mesh of 300 (.im and a 60 cm month. Encinostomns argenteus comprised 78 % of the larvae and juveniles caught in the samples. The occurrence ofgerreids was strongly concentrated in the summer, while the Menticirrlnis littoralis, Menticirrlnis americamis and Umbrina coroides were present during all seasons. M.littoralis was most abundant during spring, while M. americamis and U. coroides dominated during winter. For all species, the largest captures occurred during low tide. Environmental preferences are indicated in the principal component analysis, with the lanwe and juveniles of E. argenteus and E. gula positively correlated with smaller waves and smaller morphodynamism, whereas M. americamis, U. coroides and M. furniert seem to prefer periods with lower temperatures and larger morphodynamism.