Dieta do siri Arenaeus Cribrarius (Lamarck, 1818) (Crustacea: Brachyura: Portunidae) da Ilha de Itamaracá, Pernambuco, Brasil

Abstract

Arenaeus cribrarius, is a species of swimming crab of the Portunidae family of potential commercial value. This study aimed to analyze the stomach content of A. cribrarius specimens, collected at the mouth and surf zone of Jaguaribe Beach, Itamaracá-PE Island, in order to provide information on the composition of the natural diet of the species, as well as the characterization of their eating habits. The crabs analyzed were derived from the accompanying fauna of fish collections carried out through fishing with trawl of 20 m long, 1.5 m high and 5 mm mesh opening, carried out between July 2019 and January 2021. Two points were selected for the material collection: 1) Surf zone and 2) River mouth. For each point were performed two trawls with an interval of three minutes, once a month at low tide. After the collection, the crabs were transported to the Bentos laboratory (LABENTOS) of UFRPE/ UAST to perform the analyzes. After screening, the stomachs were removed from the visceral cavity and classified, performing prior to the withdrawal of the stomachs, a visual analysis, in order to identify the presence of oil stains in the internal whether the opening of the stomachs for identification of food components and qualitative-quantitative analyzes. From the analysis of the stomach contents of 64 specimens, 18 items of the diet of A. cribrarius distributed in the surf zone and mouth of this region were identified. The results obtained through the methods of points and frequency of occurrence, indicate that Crustacea and Osteichthyes were the most preferred items for both points of the species. For the male and female category, Crustacea was predominant, with overlapping of the other items. For the adult and juvenile category of the surf zone Crustacea and Osteichthyes were the most consumed by adults and only Crustacea for juveniles; for the mouth the item Crustacea was the most consumed for the area category. For the collection points (breaking zone and mouth) the food preference of the species is given by the items Crustacea followed by Osteichthyes, a factor probably associated with the proximity between the points and the high availability of these resources in the environment. For both seasonal periods in the analyzed points, Crustacea was the most intensely consumed item, followed by secondary items that overlapped in both periods and for both methods used. Significant differences were observed for the categories female and male, adult and juvenile seasonality. Even in small amounts, when compared to the other items, the presence of MPs in the stomachs of A. cribrarius presented significant frequency in the stomachs, suggesting that the species was exposed to remnants of human activity on Jaguaribe beach. The presence of oily substances in the external structures of the animals and their absence in the stomachs and other internal organs were not detected throughout the material analysis; data showed that there were no changes in the feeding of the species present in that locality after this episode