Caio Ribeiro Pimentel

Marine Ecology and Conservation Laboratory · Federal University of São Paulo

Deposits of seabird guano on marine shores have drawn the attention of companies and naturalists for centuries. Among notable effects, allochthonous energy/ matter inputs by seabirds are responsible for shifts in ecosystem functioning next to colonies. Here, we used stable isotopes of nitrogen-15 (ratios of 15 N: 14 N, expressed as δ 15 N) to trace...

Intertidal ecology has been considered the cradle of modern marine ecology with insightful investigations on the biological and ecological mechanisms allowing “life between the tides”. Most of the early investigations focused on macrophytes (seagrasses and macroalgae) and benthic invertebrates inhabiting emerged intertidal substrata. However, tidep...

Os baiacus são peixes caracterizados por inflarem o corpo e, principalmente, por sua toxicidade. Apesar do consumo ser contraindicado, sua carne é apreciada pela boa qualidade, sendo consumida em muitos países. No Brasil a espécie mais pescada é o baiacu-arara (Lagocephalus laevigatus), sobretudo no Espírito Santo. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabal...

A global survey of coral reefs reveals that overfishing is driving resident shark species toward extinction, causing diversity deficits in reef elasmobranch (shark and ray) assemblages. Our species level analysis revealed global declines of 60 to 73% for five common resident reef shark species and that individual shark species were not detected at...

A global survey of coral reefs reveals that overfishing is driving resident shark species toward extinction, causing diversity deficits in reef elasmobranch (shark and ray) assemblages. Our species-level analysis revealed global declines of 60 to 73% for five common resident reef shark species and that individual shark species were not detected at...

algae and rises up from the seamount summit at 60-70 m to 17 m depth. The benthic community is mainly composed by coralline algae and sponges. Fish biomass at Davis coralline hill is dominated by carnivores, mainly top predators such as nurse sharks and large groupers. The relatively shallow reef top presents higher species richness, abundance and...

Fishing monitoring to gather fishery dynamic data is usually land-based or carried from onboard inspections. However, direct georeferencing of fishing activities using aerial drones is a versatile and easy option that can potentially improve fishery studies , especially in Marine Protected Areas. We investigated the utility of aerial images to unde...

The red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) is a carnivore bottom dweller sparid, inhabiting flat sandy bottoms, rhodolith and seagrass beds of the Mediterranean Sea, the Western Atlantic (from Florida to Argentina) and the Eastern Atlantic (from Britain to Gabon). Along its native range, the red porgy is highly targeted by commercial and artisanal fisheries. In...

Geographic isolation, a relatively low species richness and high endemism make oceanic islands excellent natural laboratories for ecological and evolutionary studies. Here we used Baited Remote Underwater stereo-Video systems (stereo-BRUVS) to investigate the taxonomic, trophic and size structures of fish assemblages from pelagic and mesophotic ree...

Dozens of marine fish species are known to form spawning aggre-gations, a behaviour that often increases the species vulnerability to fisheries. Therefore, it is widely recommended for aggregation sites to be considered a conservation priority, and implementation of management measures on those sites is essential. Here, we report for the first time...

The mechanisms driving the ecology and biodiversity of seamount communities are still unclear. Here we analyzed the distribution and species traits of reef fish species recorded over seamounts, oceanic islands, and the continental shelf of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean to understand the influence of mechanisms of dispersal and establishment in th...

This study investigated the ingestion of microplastics and artificial cellulose particles by 103 specimens belonging to 21 reef fish species from the southwestern Atlantic. Specimens of six species had ingested microplastics and artificial cellulose particles, while those of another three species had ingested only one type of material. In our sampl...

Kelps are canopy-forming brown seaweed sustaining critical ecosystem services in coastal habitats, including shelter and nursery grounds, and providing food resources to a myriad of associated species. This study modeled the fundamental niche of Laminaria abyssalis along the Brazilian continental margin, an endemic species of the South Atlantic, to...

Although several studies on the ichthyofauna of the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago have been carried out, its mesophotic fish diversity has never been surveyed before. Here we used SCUBA and technical rebreather diving, baited remote underwater videos and remotely operated vehicle to record shallow (≤ 30 m depth) and mesophotic (31 to 150 m depth)...

The aim of this manuscript is to provide the first checklist of marine commercial fish species landed in Espírito Santo state (Brazilian central coast), with associated richness of common names and conservation status. The data collection took place under the Fisheries Monitoring Program, throughout the state of Espírito Santo. Altogether 22 fishin...

Saint Peter and Saint Paul's Archipelago (SPSPA), one of the smallest and most isolated island groups in the world, is situated on the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge, between Brazil and the African continent. SPSPA has low species richness and high endemism; nonetheless, the diversity of fishes from deep habitats (>30 m depth) had not been previously studied i...

Oceanic islands and seamounts present high and unique biodiversity; however, these environments are still poorly understood. Here we report seven new records of fishes for Martin Vaz Archipelago, five for Trindade Island, and one for Davis Seamount, in the Vitória-Trindade Chain. Three species, Cookeolus japonicus (Cuvier, 1829), Promethichthys pro...

Marine recreational fisheries and fish communities have been mostly studied separately, severely hampering the detection of possible interactions. Here we monitored recreational fishery landings (angling and spearfishing) and assessed the reef fish community through underwater visual censuses in Trindade, an isolated oceanic island in the southwest...

Here we present records of sharks obtained using baited remote underwater stereo‐video systems (stereo‐BRUVS) at two Brazilian oceanic islands. Fourteen of the 60 deployments recorded 19 sharks in Trindade Island. In Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago (SPSPA), two pelagic and two demersal deployments recorded two and one shark, respectively, in...

The snow bass Serranus chionaraia is a small‐bodied reef fish presumed to be restricted to the Caribbean Province, with a single specimen captured south of the Amazon River mouth. Recent surveys with baited remote underwater stereo‐video systems detected the species c. 1900 km southward. Meristic and morphometric characters of two specimens examine...

Os padrões de distribuição da ictiofauna estão relacionados a fatores físicos e bióticos, que atuam em diferentes níveis das escalas espacial e temporal. O entendimento dos padrões de distribuição da ictiofauna costeira e estuarina no litoral de Caravelas-BA, é de grande importância para conservação das espécies e ambientes, assim como para a suste...

Trophic studies are fundamental to understanding the dynamics of assemblages and functional roles of species within ecosystems, contributing to the identification of factors responsible for the organization and structure of communities. This study aimed to analyse the trophic organization of tidepool fish assemblages in the tropical Southwestern At...

PLoS ONE - Supporting Information - Accepted: December 2014 Fish biodiversity of the Vitória-Trindade Seamount Chain, southwestern Atlantic: an updated database. Below is an annotated checklist of the fishes known to occur at VTC. Orders and families follow Nelson [1], Epinephelidae follows Craig & Hastings [2] and Craig et al. [3], and Labridae f...

Despite a strong increase in research on seamounts and oceanic islands ecology and biogeography, many basic aspects of their biodiversity are still unknown. In the southwestern Atlantic, the Vitória-Trindade Seamount Chain (VTC) extends ca. 1,200 km offshore the Brazilian continental shelf, from the Vitória seamount to the oceanic islands of Trinda...

Human-induced stresses on the marine environment seem to favor some jellyfish species to the detriment of other competitors such as planktivorous fishes. In pristine ecosystems, trophic relationships among these consumers are poorly understood. We determined stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures of representative consumers in the relatively...

Dispersal is fundamental to the colonization of oceanic islands that were never connected to larger landmasses. For species with limited dispersal capabilities, colonization of remote islands can be followed by isolation and speciation. The tidepool fish community of Trindade Island, 1,160 km off the Brazilian coast at the eastern end of the Vitóri...

O conhecimento das interações tróficas das comunidades aquáticas fornece informações básicas para a compreensão do funcionamento do ecossistema, a qual subsidia seu manejo. Estudos dessa natureza são escassos em peixes de poças de maré no Brasil. Todavia, há uma consciência crescente nas últimas décadas de que tanto os peixes residentes quanto os t...

The present work provides length-weight relationships for eight species of cryptobenthic reef fishes captured at natural and artificial environments on the southeastern Brazilian coast.

Diet of juvenile mutton Lutjanus analis, dog Lutjanus jocu and lane Lutjanus synagris snappers were studied in the tropical Brazilian estuarine system of the Piraquê-açú and Piraquê-mirim Rivers to determine how these species share the resources in this restricted space. The three species prey principally upon Peracarida (L. synagris: relative impo...

Here we report the use of Epinephelus itajara by Decapterus macarellus as a protection from Caranx latus predation attacks.