Check List 11(2): e19213, doi: 10.15560/11.2.1615
Fish diversity of a southwestern Atlantic coastal island: aspects of distribution and conservation in a marine zoogeographical boundary
expand article infoHudson Tercio Pinheiro‡, João Marcos Cordeiro Madureira§, Jean-Christophe Joyeux|, Agnaldo Silva Martins|
‡ University of California Santa Cruz California Academy of Sciences, United States of America§ Associação Ambiental Voz da Natureza, Brazil| Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Brazil

Corresponding author: Hudson Pinheiro ( htpinheiro@gmail.com )

© 2017 Hudson Pinheiro, João Marcos Cordeiro Madureira, Jean-Christophe Joyeux, Agnaldo Martins.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Pinheiro H, Joyeux J, Cordeiro Madureira J, Martins A (2015) Fish diversity of a southwestern Atlantic coastal island: aspects of distribution and conservation in a marine zoogeographical boundary. Check List 11(2): 1615. https://doi.org/10.15560/11.2.1615
Open Access
Abstract
Despite the increase of knowledge about the southwestern Atlantic ichthyofauna, there is still a lack of information along extensive marine areas. The Espírito Santo state (ES) coast, considered a zoogeographic boundary and a transitional zone between tropical and subtropical realms, is still largely unknown. Here is provided a checklist containing 221 fish species at Franceses Island (south coast of ES), which was attained with data from 2000 to 2010 by means of underwater observations, specimen collections and fisheries monitoring. Abundance, habitats and threat risks of each species are shown and discussed. The number of reef fish species found at Franceses Island corresponds approximately to 35% of all fishes present in the Brazilian Province. The conservation of the Franceses Island and surrounding areas would protect a mosaic of environments that can support a high diversity of fish species.
Keywords
Brazilian province; endangered species; ichthyofauna; richness; rocky reefs; Espírito Santo; Brazil; Franceses Island