<b>Larval fish assemblage at Bahia north shore, Brazil</b>

Abstract

This work describes the composition and investigates temporal modifications in the structure of larval fish assemblages at Bahia north shore. The influence of environmental factors in these patterns is also analyzed. Collections were carried out in 12 sampling stations in the following months: May, September, December of 1993, and March of 1994. Oblique tows were conducted using a bongo net with 500 μm mesh size. Grouping of larval fish taxa revealed two assemblages related to the rainfall regime. The typical assemblage of the dry period, was formed mainly by demersal families (Gobiidae, Haemulidae and Gerreidae), the mesopelagic Myctophidae and the epipelagic Engraulididae. The second assemblage, tipically of the rainy period, was formed by epipelagic families: Carangidae, Clupeidae and Scombridae. Temperature, salinity, oxygen, turbidity, ammonium, chlorophyll a, were used as environmental variable and accounted for 92,7% of the variation of the data of larval fish assemblage.