Ichthyofauna composition related to physiography in a coastal stream of Atlantic Forest, Brazil

Abstract

In spite of the impacts that tropical streams are submitted, they still present a great fish diversity. The knowledge of the fish structure and composition is an important attempt in order to stabilish evaluation parameters that can favour conservation of these environments. The icthyofaunal composition related to physiographic features of coastal streams of south Brazil is an important contribution to the interpretation of these ecosystem dynamics. We perform fish collections in five sampling sites in the Pinto River, placed in Morretes municipality in the Paraná State, Brazil. The samples were accomplished between May 2006 and November 2007, using electric fishing along 50 m/hour in each site. The collected animals were fixed in formaline 10%. Each site (point) was classified in relation to the bottom substratum, depth, width average, and current speed. Direct relationship between substratum type and fish compostition was observed. Siluriformes were predominant in places with coarseness granulometry, such as boulders, cobbles and pebbles. On the other hand, Characiformes were predominant in places with smaller granulometry, such as coarse sand and gravel.