Ecologia alimentar de Sotalia guianensis em um complexo estuarino no litoral do estado do Paraná

Abstract

Understanding the feeding ecology of cetaceans is a fundamental step in the preservation of these marine mammals. Cetaceans play an extremely important role, as they are one of the main influencers of prey population dynamics in the marine ecosystem, mainly coastal, as they are at the top of the trophic chain. The Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) is a species of dolphin endemic to the Western South Atlantic Ocean and is threatened with extinction. Because they are animals that accumulate environmental contaminants in their bodies, the study of their diet is extremely important to obtain information about the environmental quality of the ocean, in order to conserve its biodiversity. The present study investigated the eating habits of the species on the coast of Paraná, collecting information in the field by visual monitoring, together with necropsies that were performed at the Marine Fauna Rehabilitation, Depetrolization and Health Analysis Center (CreD) of the Center for Marine Studies from UFPR (CEM-UFPR). During the process of identifying food items, they were reported for the food ecology of the Guiana dolphin population living on the coast of Paraná; 20 teleosts, with the Sciaenidae family being predominant with eight species, four cephalopods with three species of the Loliginidae family and only one crustacean from the Penaeidae family. Therefore, the opportunistic and generalist habit amplifies the variety of their diet, however the analyzed specimens have their preference for teleost fish, characterizing it as an ichthyophagous species, but less frequent cephalopods and crustaceans are found.