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Endangered mobulids within sustainable use protected areas of southeastern Brazil: occurrence, fisheries impact, and a new prey item

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Abstract

Although mobulids (Mobulidae) are threatened with extinction, basic information about their biology and ecology is still lacking. Therefore, we analyzed impacts of fishing, morphology, coloration, and stomach content of mobulid carcasses stranded on the coast of Ilha Comprida, southeastern Brazil, found in protected areas of sustainable use. The carcasses were of a juvenile female manta ray (believed to be Mobula cf. birostris), two adult females M. birostris (one with a partially aborted fetus), and two adult M. hypostoma (one female with an aborted fetus, and one male). The stomach content of a M. birostris consisted almost exclusively of a newly reported prey item, the sergestid Acetes americanus, highlighting the variation of prey items in the species’ diet. This is the first record of a pregnant M. birostris in the South Atlantic Ocean and the first account of A. americanus as a mobulid prey item. The reported mobulids have been impacted by fishing activities, even within sustainable use protected areas, highlighting the importance of improving surveillance in the area and the communication between the fishing communities, scientists, and managers for designing better conservation plans for the species. Future research and conservation efforts are urgently needed to better understand the spatial and temporal distribution of mobulids, as well of its prey A. americanus, to further confirm that mobulids use this site as a feeding and nursery area and to reduce the anthropogenic impacts on these endangered populations.

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Data availability

The data are part of the open SIMBA database (Sistema de Informação de Monitoramento da Biota Aquática), which can be accessed at https://simba.petrobras.com.br/simba/web/.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Santos Basin Beach Monitoring Project (PMP-BS) sponsored by the Petrobras Environmental Program and conducted by Instituto de Pesquisas Cananéia (IPeC) in Ilha Comprida, São Paulo state, and their team members H. Chupil, B. Canônico, C. Pessi, V. Marques, R. Murro, M. Crivellenti, M. Rodrigues, J. P. B. Rodrigues, F. P. de Souza, S. Nagaoka, I. Neves, and J. R. Sabbadini. We thank the anonymous reviewers and editors for their helpful recommendations to improve the manuscript.

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This study was financially supported by the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) with the PhD scholarship process number 141096/2016–0.

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Correspondence to Andrielli Maryan Medeiros.

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Medeiros, A.M., Bersano, J.G.F., Ari, C. et al. Endangered mobulids within sustainable use protected areas of southeastern Brazil: occurrence, fisheries impact, and a new prey item. Environ Biol Fish 105, 775–786 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01282-0

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