Potencial atrator de peixes ósseos em recife artificial no litoral norte do estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

• Autor(a) principal: Gomes,Marcelo Paes
• Data de Publicação: 2001
• Outros Autores: Novelli,Ronaldo, Faria,Vicente Vieira, Zalmon,Ilana Rosental
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Zoologia (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-81752001000300014
• topic: Artificial reef; osteichthyes; community structure; temporal variation; Northern coast of Rio de Janeiro

Artificial reefs have become an important and popular resource enhancement technique by concentrating fishes and by increasing natural production of biological resources. In order to increase the necto-benthic colonization potencial, an artificial reef was installed on the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro (21º27'S, 41ºOO'W), an area with typically low relief bottom. Measuring nearly 1500 m², the reef consisted of four sets of different materials randomly disposed: concrete pipes (N = 12); tires structures (N = 20); and cement tanks (N = 7) and pre-made blocks (N = 4). ln order to determine the artificial reef effects on the teleost community, trammel nets were used for monthly sampling the reef site (RA) and on a control area (AC) with sandy bottom. During the 23-month survey from April/96 to March/98, were recorded: a) Chaetodipterus faber (Broussonet, 1782) and Haemulon aurolieatum (Cuvier, 1829) as exclusive species of the RA; b) higher values of species richness and abundance on the RA, at least in 5 of 8 periods; c) increase on the fish abundance on summer months. Correlation analysis indicated that salinity and precipitation were the most significant environmental factors correlated with the temporal fish community variation. This results highlight the importance of rainfall periodicity and the influence of Paraíba do Sul River on the nekton assemblage distribution. It is suggested that the functional role of the artificial reef might be related to higher availability of local shelter and food resources.