Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T09:24:37.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life history traits of the sand stargazer Dactyloscopus tridigitatus (Teleostei: Blennioidei) from south-eastern Brazilian coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2011

Rogério Luiz Teixeira ,
Eduardo Hoffman de Barros ,
Rodrigo Barbosa Ferreira ,
Rafael Magno Costa Melo  and
Luiz Fernando Salvador-Jr
Rogério Luiz Teixeira
Affiliation:
Museu de Biologia Prof. Mello Leitão, Avenida José Ruschi, 4, Centro, 29650-000 Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Eduardo Hoffman de Barros
Affiliation:
Museu de Biologia Prof. Mello Leitão, Avenida José Ruschi, 4, Centro, 29650-000 Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Rodrigo Barbosa Ferreira
Affiliation:
Museu de Biologia Prof. Mello Leitão, Avenida José Ruschi, 4, Centro, 29650-000 Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo, Brazil Department of Wildland Resources and Ecology Center, Utah State University, 84322-5230, Logan, Utah, USA
Rafael Magno Costa Melo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Morfologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antônio Carlos, 6627, PO Box 1686, 30161-970, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Luiz Fernando Salvador-Jr*
Affiliation:
Neotropical Research—Grupo de Estudo para a Conservação da Fauna Neotropical, R. Dona Cecília 50/05, Serra, 30220-070 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L.F. Salvador-Jr, Neotropical Research—Grupo de Estudo para a Conservação da Fauna Neotropical, R. Dona Cecília 50/05, Serra, 30220-070 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Individuals of the sand stargazer Dactyloscopus tridigitatus were collected monthly over a period of one year in an urban-sandy beach in south-eastern Brazil. We sampled 57 males, 64 females, and 6 juveniles, indicating a sex-ratio of approximately 1:1. Total length and weight did not differ significantly between sexes, showing no sexual dimorphism in size. The growth of D. tridigitatus was highly positive allometric and the correlation coefficient was significant for both sexes. Males were observed carrying two egg clumps under each enlarged pectoral fin during most of the year. In contrast, females showed a more restricted reproductive period, concentrated during the austral rainy season. The number of eggs in each clump carried by males did not differ significantly from the number of vitellogenic oocytes of mature females. The number of eggs carried by males was weakly correlated to male total length; however, female fecundity was strongly correlated to female total length. Dactyloscopus tridigitatus consumed a high variety of prey items, including crustaceans, annelids, molluscs, teleosts, insects and eggs. Isopods were the most important component of the diet followed by polychaetes and amphipods. We concluded that promiscuous breeding, paternal care behaviour and invertivorous feeding habits seem to be important traits for the species' success in the studied habitat.

Keywords

marine fishDactyloscopidaepopulation structurereproductionfeeding
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Special Issue 2: Fish and Fisheries , March 2013 , pp. 397 - 403
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Almada, V.C. and Santos, R.S. (1995) Parental care in the rocky intertidal: a case study of adaptation and exaptation in Mediterranean and Atlantic blennies. Reviews of Fish Biology and Fisheries 5, 23–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersson, M. (1994) Sexual selection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
André, R.G.B., Marques, V.S., Pinheiro, F.M.A. and Ferraudo, A.S. (2008) Identificação de regiões pluviometricamente homogêneas no estado do Rio de Janeiro, utilizando-se valores mensais. Revista Brasileira de Meteorologia 23, 501–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahnesjö, I., Kvarnemo, C. and Merilaita, S. (2001) Using potential reproductive rates to predict mating competition among individuals qualified to mate. Behavioral Ecology 12, 397–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Awata, S., Miura, S., Seki, S., Sagawa, T., Sato, N. and Sakai, K. (2010) Seasonal changes in reproductive and physical condition, sexual dimorphism, and male mating tactics in the jewelled blenny Salarias fasciatus . Ichthyological Research 57, 161–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camilato, V., Simon, T., Pinheiro, H.T., Pimentel, C.R. and Joyeux, J-C. (2010) Length–weight relationships for some cryptobenthic reef fishes off Guarapari, south-eastern Brazil. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 26, 463–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho, P.A., Paschoalini, A.L., Santos, G.B., Rizzo, E. and Bazzoli, N. (2009) Reproductive biology of Astyanax fasciatus (Pisces: Characiformes) in a reservoir in south-eastern Brazil. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 25, 306–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, C.E. (1982) Atlantic sand stargazers (Pisces: Dactyloscopidae), with description of one new genus and seven new species. Bulletin of Marine Science 32, 14–85.Google Scholar
Doyle, K.D. (1998) Phylogeny of the sand stargazers (Dactyloscopidae: Blennioidei). Copeia 1, 76–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferreira, C.E.L., Ferreira, C.G.W., Rangel, C.A., Mendonça, J.P., Gerhardinger, L.C., Filho, A.C., Godoy, E.A., Luiz-Jr, O. and Gasparini, J.L. (2007) Peixes Recifais. In Creed, J.C., Pires, D.O. and Figueiredo, M.A.O. (eds) Biodiversidade marinha da Baia da Ilha Grande. Brasília: MMA/SBF, pp. 291–322.Google Scholar
Giacomello, E. and Rasotto, M.B. (2005) Sexual dimorphism and male mating success in the tentacled blenny, Parablennius tentacularis (Teleostei: Blenniidae). Marine Biology 147, 1221–1228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibran, F.Z., Santos, F.B., Santos, H.F. and Sabino, J. (2004) Courtship behavior and spawning of the hairy blenny Labrisomus nuchipinnis (Labrisomidae) in south-eastern Brazil. Neotropical Ichthyology 2, 163–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonçalves, E.J. and Almada, V.C. (1997) Sex differences in resource utilization by the peacock blenny. Journal of Fish Biology 51, 624–633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonçalves, E.J. and Almada, V.C. (1998) A comparative study of territoriality in intertidal and subtidal blennioids (Teleostei, Blennioidei). Environmental Biology of Fishes 51, 624–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halpern, B.S. and Floeter, S.R. (2008) Functional diversity responses to changing species richness in reef fish communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series 364, 147–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastings, P.A. (1988) Correlates of male reproductive success in the browncheek blenny, Acanthemblemaria crockeri (Blennioidea: Chaenopsidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 22, 95–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastings, P.A. (1991) Flexible responses to predators in a marine fish. Ethology Ecology & Evolution 3, 177–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastings, P.A. (2002) Evolution of morphological and behavioral ontogenies in females of a highly dimorphic clade of blennioid fishes. Evolution 56, 1644–1654.Google ScholarPubMed
Hastings, P.A. and Springer, V.G. (2009) Systematics of the Blennioidei and the included families Chaenopsidae, Clinidae, Labrisomidae and Dactyloscopidae. In Patzner, R.A., Gonçalves, E.J., Hastings, P.A. and Kapoor, B.G. (eds) The biology of the blennies. Enfield, NH: Science Publishers, pp. 3–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawakami, E. and Vazzoler, G. (1980) Método gráfico e estimativa de índice alimentar aplicado ao estudo de alimentação de peixes. Boletim do Instituto Oceanográfico 29, 205–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraak, S.B.M. (1996) Female preference and filial cannibalism in Aidablennius sphynx (Teleostei, Blennidae); a combined field and laboratory study. Behavioural Processes 36, 85–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvarnemo, C. and Ahnesjö, I. (1996) The dynamics of operational sex ratios and competition for mates. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11, 404–408.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macieira, R.M. and Joyeux, J-C. (2009) Length–weight relationships for rockpool fishes in Brazil. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 25, 358–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manica, A. (2002) Filial cannibalism in teleost fish. Biological Reviews 77, 261–277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matamoros, W.A. Schaefer, J.F. and Kreiser, B.R. (2009) Annotated checklist of the freshwater fishes of continental and insular Honduras. Zootaxa 2307, 1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neat, F. and Lengkeek, W. (2009) Sexual selection in blennies. In Patzner, R.A., Gonçalves, E.J., Hastings, P.A. and Kapoor, B.G. (eds) The biology of blennies. Enfield, NH: Science Publishers, pp. 249–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, J.S. (2006) Fishes of the world. 4th edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Oliveira, R.F., Canario, A.V.M. and Grober, M.S. (2001) Male sexual polymorphism, alternative reproductive tactics, and androgens in combtooth blennies (Pisces: Blenniidae). Hormones and Behavior 40, 266–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patzner, R.A., Gonçalves, E.J., Hastings, P. and Kapoor, B.G. (eds) (2009) The biology of blennies. Enfield, NH: Science Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saraiva, J.L., Barata, E.N., Canário, A.V.M. and Oliveira, R.F. (2009) The effect of nest aggregation on the reproductive behavior of the peacock blenny Salaria pavo . Journal of Fish Biology 74, 754–762.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shibata, J. and Kohda, M. (2006) Seasonal sex role changes in the blenniid Petroscirtes breviceps, a nest brooder with paternal care. Journal of Fish Biology 12, 203–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stepien, C., Dillon, A., Brooks, M., Chase, K. and Hubers, A. (1997) The evolution of blennioid fishes based on an analysis of mitochondrial 12S rDNA. In Kocher, T. and Stepien, C. (eds) Molecular systematics of fishes. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 245–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, H.J., Menezes, N.A. and Ali, M.A. (1976) Retinal adaptations in some Brazilian tide pool fishes. Zoomorphology 83, 209–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, W. (1996) Blennioidei. In Moser, H.G. (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current Region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, pp. 1148–199.Google Scholar
Wilson, S.K. (2009) Diversity in the diet and feeding habits of blennies. In Patzner, R.A., Gonçalves, E.J., Hastings, P.A. and Kapoor, B.G. (eds) The biology of blennies. Enfield, NH: Science Publishers, pp. 139–162.Google Scholar