TY - JOUR
T1 - Multiple lionfish (Pterois spp.) new occurrences along the Brazilian coast confirm the invasion pathway into the Southwestern Atlantic
AU - Luiz, Osmar J.
AU - dos Santos, Wagner C.R.
AU - Marceniuk, Alexandre P.
AU - Rocha, Luiz A.
AU - Floeter, Sergio R.
AU - Buck, Clara E.
AU - de Klautau, Alex G.C.M.
AU - Ferreira, Carlos E.L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support for continuous monitoring of the Brazilian oceanic islands is provided by “Programa de Monitoramento de Longa Duração das Comunidades Recifais de Ilhas Oceânicas – PELD ILOC” (CNPq 441241/2016-6, CELF-PI). Fish landing monitoring in the North Brazilian coast is supported by Projeto Áreas Marinhas e Costeiras Protegidas—GEF Mar of the Federal Government (AGCMK) and the Programa de Capacitação Institucional (MCTIC/CNPq, 444338/2018–7 and 300675/2019–4; APM). We thank the logistic support of ICMBio of Fernando de Noronha, Queiroz Divers and Sea Paradise Divers staff and G Pesca for the photographic record of the specimen observed in the Amapá. CELF and SRF thank their productivity grants from CNPq-PQ.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - The invasion of the northwestern Atlantic by the Indo-Pacific lionfish has developed extraordinarily fast. In less than 30 years, lionfish have dramatically expanded their distribution range to an area encompassing the eastern coast of the USA, Bermuda, the entire Caribbean region and the Gulf of Mexico. Until now, just a single sighting had been reported in the South Atlantic and it was questionable whether lionfish would invade this region like it has in the northwestern Atlantic. Here we report four new records of lionfish for the Brazilian coast, in the southwestern Atlantic. Two individuals were captured in mesophotic reefs underneath the Amazon river plume, one in an oceanic archipelago distant 350 km from Brazil’s tropical continental coast, and the fourth in the subtropical coast. The records in the Amazon and in the oceanic regions support previous inferences of lionfish invasion routes into the south Atlantic. The subtropical record, despite being considered too far away for a single larval dispersal event from the Caribbean, is recurrent and could be a result of aquarium releases.
AB - The invasion of the northwestern Atlantic by the Indo-Pacific lionfish has developed extraordinarily fast. In less than 30 years, lionfish have dramatically expanded their distribution range to an area encompassing the eastern coast of the USA, Bermuda, the entire Caribbean region and the Gulf of Mexico. Until now, just a single sighting had been reported in the South Atlantic and it was questionable whether lionfish would invade this region like it has in the northwestern Atlantic. Here we report four new records of lionfish for the Brazilian coast, in the southwestern Atlantic. Two individuals were captured in mesophotic reefs underneath the Amazon river plume, one in an oceanic archipelago distant 350 km from Brazil’s tropical continental coast, and the fourth in the subtropical coast. The records in the Amazon and in the oceanic regions support previous inferences of lionfish invasion routes into the south Atlantic. The subtropical record, despite being considered too far away for a single larval dispersal event from the Caribbean, is recurrent and could be a result of aquarium releases.
KW - Amazon barrier
KW - Exotic species
KW - Fernando de noronha archipelago
KW - Marine invasion
KW - New record
KW - Reef fish
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107423860&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10530-021-02575-8
DO - 10.1007/s10530-021-02575-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107423860
VL - 23
SP - 3013
EP - 3019
JO - Biological Invasions
JF - Biological Invasions
SN - 1387-3547
IS - 10
ER -