Análise da biodiversidade de peixes nas zonas de surfe de praias arenosas do litoral norte de São Paulo

Abstract

Sandy beach surf zones are essential environments for the development of numerous fish species, however, there are few studies on the composition of fish assemblages in these locations, compared to other coastal habitats, due to the difficulty of sampling these environments by their waves and high energy currents. In this study, the image and video (surf-BRUVS) method was used to sample 29 sandy beaches with different environmental aspects on the north coast of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. The abundance of species in general and per beach was compared, considering the physical conditions of the environment and human influence. The results registered a total of 1972 fish distributed in 21 species and 14 families, with Carangidae being the most diverse family. It was also shown that the use of surf-BRUVS is effective in recording larger species and the bait can interfere in the results, as it can attract predatory species and intimidate smaller species and their non-appearance in the cameras.