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Reef fish mass mortality event in an isolated island off Brazil, with notes on recent similar events at Ascension, St Helena and Maldives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2010

Hudson T. Pinheiro ,
João L. Gasparini  and
Jean-Christophe Joyeux
Hudson T. Pinheiro*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Avenida F. Ferrari, 514, Goiabeiras, Vitória, ES, Brazil, 29075-910
João L. Gasparini
Affiliation:
Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Avenida F. Ferrari, 514, Goiabeiras, Vitória, ES, Brazil, 29075-910
Jean-Christophe Joyeux
Affiliation:
Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Avenida F. Ferrari, 514, Goiabeiras, Vitória, ES, Brazil, 29075-910
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: H.T. Pinheiro, Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Avenida F. Ferrari, 514, Goiabeiras, Vitória, ES, Brazil, 29075-910 email: htpinheiro@gmail.com
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Abstract

Events of mass mortality of marine fish have been reported to occur world wide, mainly in coastal regions of continental shelves. Here we report an event at Trindade Island, located 1160 km from the Brazilian coast. Melichthys niger was the species most commonly seen affected. Twenty-four other species were found washed ashore. Victims were demersal (72% of species), pelagic (20%) and benthonic species (8%), comprising eight trophic categories. There is evidence that fish kills have occurred at Trindade since at least the 1990s. Mortality events mainly involving primarily Balistidae (Trindade, Maldives and Ascension), Chaetodontidae (St Helena) and Serranidae (Ascension) have been reported for other isolated oceanic localities with low human occupation. It is possible that blooms of toxic algae, under certain conditions cause cascading intoxication along the trophic web. A second hypothesis is that seasonal upwelling events of anoxic or hypoxic waters may be implicated.

Keywords

fish killdead zoneTrindade Islandsouthern AtlanticBalistidae
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 3 , June 2010 , e47
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

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