Checklist of rocky reef fishes from the Currais Archipelago and Itacolomis Island , Paraná state , Brazil

Materials and Methods Study site The Currais Archipelago (25°44’ S, 48°22’ W) is composed of three islands separated by 6 nautical miles from the coast. The depth along the archipelago varies from 1.5 to 16 m. Itacolomis Island (25°50’ S, 48°24’ W) consists of two small rocky islands located approximately 7 nautical miles from the coast, with depths ranging from 3 to 17 m (Figure 1). The inclination of the rocky shores of Currais Archipelago and Itacolomis Islands is moderate, between 45° and 60°. The substrate is composed mostly of small rocks, which are usually covered by macroalgae, Palythoa sp., and Zoanthus sp.


Introduction
Reefs are defined as any formation with a consolidated bottom of organic and/or inorganic origin and they are extremely rich in terms of biodiversity and form one of the most complex environments in the coastal marine ecosystem.It is estimated that reefs harbor about 25% of all species of marine fishes currently known (Spalding et al. 2001).Fish communities have the highest levels of diversity in reefs, though such diversity may vary according to geographic and morphologic conditions of the ecosystem (Sale 1991).In Brazil, it is estimated that about 520 species inhabit this ecosystem (Hostim-Silva et al. 2006).Those species display a plethora of colors, shapes, trophic and reproductive habits, and present a variety of intra-and interspecific associations.
Rocky shore support diverse fish communities despite having lower topographic complexity than coral reefs, and are the main habitat for the reef biota in southern Brazil (Ferreira et al. 2001).Consolidated substrates such as those typically present in coastal islands, rocky shores, submerged slabs and calcareous bottoms are uncommon in the coast of Paraná State, southern Brazil.It is possible that the almost complete inexistence of such rock formations in the coast line of Paraná might be related to the relatively large distance of the Serra do Mar, where the rocky formations are found.The Currais Archipelago and Itacolomis Island are ecologically relevant among the marine ecosystems of the Paraná State since they supply suitable conditions for communities whose components are more adapted to living in reef habitats.
Despite its relevance to the marine biota, few studies have been performed to date in these islands (Félix and Harckradt 2008;Félix-Hackradt and Hackradt 2008;Harckradt and Félix-Harckradt 2009).Many studies that deal with the fish fauna have been carried out on the Paraná coast, but the main focus of those studies was usually the ichthyofauna associated with unconsolidated Abstract: The ichthyofauna of the rocky substrate of Currais Archipelago and Itacolomis Island (Paraná state, Brazil) was surveyed between October 2008 and August 2009 through visual census, using 40 m2 (20x2 m) band transects at an average depth of 6 m.A total of 14,210 individuals (66 species from 33 families) were observed in 336 band transects, covering an area of 13,440 m 2 .Stegastes fuscus, Abudefduf saxatilis, Haemulon aurolineatum and Malacoctenus delalandii were the most abundant species."Carnivore" was the most species-rich category, and "Mobile Invertebrate Feeder" the most abundant.Nine species are added to the list of reef fishes of the Paraná state: Acanthurus coeruleus, Dactylopterus volitans, Epinephelus morio, Myrichthys breviceps, Ophioblennius trinitatis, Paraclinus spectator, Scorpaena brasiliensis, and Selene vomer.species, K. incisor and K. sectator, is possible only with the capture of specimens for counting spines of the dorsal and anal fins; thus the specimens observed were identified until the taxonomic level of genus.The species of reef fishes were grouped in six trophic categories assessed from the literature (Ferreira et al. 2004;Randall 1967;Opitz 1996;Floeter et al. 2004Floeter et al. , 2006;;Kuiter 2009), where: CAR = Carnivores (eat a variety of mobile organisms, including invertebrates and fishes), MIF = Mobile Invertebrate Feeders (feed primarily on small benthic mobile invertebrates like mollusks, crustaceans, worms, etc. associated to the hard-or nearby soft-substrate), OMN = Omnivores (feed on a variety of organisms, both animal and vegetal), PLA = Planktivores (feed primarily on macroand micro-zooplankton), HER = Herbivores (small to large herbivores that include in their diet a rich mass of detritus, turf algae and macroalgae) and SIF = Sessile Invertebrate Feeders (feeds on a array of sessile benthic invertebrates like cnidarians, bryozoans, ascidians and sponges that are mostly associated with hard substrate).
In order to analyze their zoogeographic affinities, the species were classified using the literature (Luiz-Jr

Results and Discussion
Throughout this study, 14,210 individuals of 66 species in 33 families and 8 orders, were observed (Table 1).In the Currais Archipelago, 6,115 specimens (48 species in 30 families) were observed, with an average density of 36.4/40m 2 .On Itacolomis Island, 8,095 specimens were observed (51 species in 26 families), with an average density of 48.2/40 m 2 .
Most of the individuals observed belong to species whose maximum known TL are around 10 centimeters.Another factor that possibly contributed to this result is the ontogenetic migration of some species, such as Mycteroperca marginata (Machado et al. 2003).In that species and possibly in others among those identified in this study, smaller individuals are found in shallower depths, whereas the larger ones look for refuges at deeper sites, thus decreasing the competition for space and food.
The 66 species identified in this study were grouped in the six trophic categories described above, which can be used as categories of convenience in studies about interactions between species.About 32% (21 species) are Carnivores.Mobile Invertebrate Feeders is the second largest category, with 26% (17) of the species identified.The other categories are Herbivores, Omnivores, Planktivores, and Sessile Invertebrate Feeders (12, 9, 5, and 2 species, respectively), together contributed with 42% of the species identified.Carnivores are more representative at high latitudes, due to a decrease in herbivores and mobile invertebrate feeders (Ferreira et al., 2004).The diversity of the mobile invertebrate feeders, and the consequently diversified ecomorphological types, make such group prone to be abundant in different environmental conditions (Ferreira et al. 2004).
Fifty-nine percent of the species (39) occur throughout the Western Atlantic, 22.7% (15) are Trans-Atlantic, and 10.6% (7) are endemic to the Brazilian coast.Species that occur in the Central-Atlantic and Southeastern Brazil contribute with 6.0% (4) and 1.5% (1), respectively.
Ophioblennius trinitatis, Selene vomer, Dactylopterus volitans, Paraclinus spectator, Myrichtys breviceps, Scorpaena brasiliensis, Epinephelus morio (Figure 3A) and Acanthurus coeruleus (Figure 3B) are species known to occur in southern Brazil (Hostim-Silva et al., 2006;A. A. Bertoncini, unpubl. data), but during this study they were observed for the first time in association with rocky substrates in the Paraná State and should be added to the regional list provided by Hackradt and Félix-Harckradt (2009).
A juvenile of Anisotremus virginicus, which is an optional cleaner during this phase, was observed cleaning an adult of Chaetodon striatus for 3 minutes (Figure 4).This interaction represents a cleaning symbiosis in which one species of fish removes parasites and necrotic tissue or mucus from a variety of fish seeking services.
et al, 2008) into the following geographic distribution categories: Br = Brazilian province; CE = Central Atlantic (St.Helena and Ascension Islands); CT = Circumtropical, EA= Eastern Atlantic, Pat = Patagonian (occur primarily in the temperate rocky reefs south to Argentina), SCa = Southern Caribbean (coast of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands of the low Lesser Antilles), SE = Southeastern Brazil (endemic from the region that encompass 20° to 27°S), TA = Trans-Atlantic (both sides of the Atlantic Ocean), and WA = Western Atlantic (in the western North and South Atlantic).