Acompanhamento das atividades realizadas no laboratório de ictiologia - DEPAq/UFRPE

Abstract

Identification is considered one of the most important tools to verify which taxonomic group a species belongs to, according to a previously established classification. This classification is distributed according to their characters shared by the species, classifying them at different levels called taxons. Identification keys are necessary to perform this procedure, and through them it is possible to describe the taxonomy of a particular species. As a complementary methodology for the evidence of osteological structures necessary for taxonomic framing, there is the diaphanization method, which is a procedure used to demonstrate cartilage and vertebrate bones, through alcian blue and alizarin dyes. This method can be used by researchers with the objective of ostologically characteristicizing the species and differentiating them, allowing their identification, thus attributing them to the taxonomic classification group to which they belong. The objective of this report is to present the activities related to the Mandatory Supervised Internship (ESO), carried out at the Ichthyology Laboratory of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, whose main activity was to identify the ichthyofauna of the São Francisco river basin and the coastal region of Pernambuco, and learn how to use the diaphanization method. For the identification of the species of São Francisco, the Manual for the identification of fish from the Region of Três Marias de Britski et al. was used, while for the identification of marine fish was used the identification key of families of the Guide for Identification of Fish of the Coast of Brazil of Balerta, followed by the identification of their genera and species through the Manual of Marine Fish of Southeastern Brazil. To perform the diaphanization process, the method of enzymatic bleaching and differentiation of bones and cartilage was used. A total of 50 species were identified, of which 25 were freshwater fish from the São Francisco river basin and 25 marine from the coastal region of Pernambuco. Through the internship, it was possible to obtain a greater knowledge about the ichthyofauna of the regions of São Francisco and the coast of Pernambuco, being possible to maintain a direct experience in the use of fish identification manuals, becoming essential for the construction of my academic career, thus having the internship met all my expectations, contributing to my professional training