Occurrence of brephoepipelagic fishes in the stomach contents of large pelagic predators in the southwestern equatorial Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

The brephoepipelagic fishes are characterized by having larvae and juveniles that live in the pelagic environment and displace to the bottom in coastal water when adults. In the oceanic region of northeastern Brazil their presence was studied as part of the diet of 1,990 stomachs analyzed from 15 large predators, with the presence of 3,562 individuals of brephoepipelagic fishes. Seven species, with a higher dominance of Dactylopterus volitans (87.7% in number) were found, followed by other genera and species, Balistes sp. (4.35%), Diodon sp. (3.43%), Acanthurus sp. (1.88%), Holocentrus adscensionis (1.54%), Acanthostracion sp.(0.87%), Fistularia sp. (0.34%), and Monacanthus sp. (0.25%). Their main predators were the dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus), tunas (Thunnus spp.), and billfishes (Istiophoridae). The presence and abundance in the open ocean may have origin from islands and oceanic banks in the northeast region, also along the coast, where they disperse to open waters due to currents and eddies, becoming available for large predators between at a size between 2 and 14 cm.