Hudson Pinheiro

University of São Paulo | USP

We studied the spawning ecology of Stegastes sanctipauli, a damselfish endemic to the small and remote St. Peter and St. Paul’s Archipelago (Brazil), aiming to determine the main correlates of reproductive success, as inferred from rates of egg losses along a spawning season. New clutches appeared mostly in the last quarter moon, when egg predation...

Rhodolith beds harbor a highly diverse associated biota. The Brazilian coast encompasses the world’s largest rhodolith beds of the world that occur along a wide latitudinal expanse, from off the Amazon River mouth in northern Brazil (5°N/49°W) to Santa Catarina State in southern Brazil (27°S/48°W). Although recent studies revealed diverse fish comm...

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a widely used tool for coral reefs conservation, but massive tourism activities inside MPAs worldwide can challenge their effectiveness. This study investigated the role of different levels of protection strictness (no-entry, low and high tourism-allowed zones) set for a marine sanctuary in shaping benthic cover an...

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...

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...

Understanding biodiversity and ecological patterns is a key step for the protection and sustainable use of natural resources. Located in the shore of the city of Vitória (Brazil), the Environmental Protected Area (APA in the Brazilian legislation) Baía das Tartarugas is a Marine Protected Area that lies in a biogeographic transitional zone, and pre...

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...

https://periodicos.ufes.br/sebivix/article/view/37499

Understanding interactions between spatial gradients in disturbances, species distributions and species’ resilience mechanisms is critical to identifying processes that mediate environmental change. On coral reefs, a global expansion of coral bleaching is likely to drive spatiotemporal pulses in resource quality for obligate coral associates. Using...

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...

Studies on oceanic island biodiversity have been the foundation for much theoretical work. However, seamounts are mostly underexplored, and little information is available about their potential as stepping stones for oceanic dispersal and their role in diversification. Here we used a genetic approach to test different models of marine dispersal bet...

The Sally lightfoot crab, Grapsus grapsus (Linnaeus, 1758), is distributed along the Eastern Pacific coast and along the Western Atlantic coast, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Southwestern Atlantic. In Brazil, the only established populations are found on the Brazilian oceanic islands, although two previous records (1901 and 1966) reported the pres...

Pseudanthias hangapiko sp. nov. (Teleostei, Serranidae, Anthiadinae) is herein described from three specimens collected from a depth of 83 m in a mesophotic coral ecosystem off Hanga Piko, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile. Pseudanthias hangapiko sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners in live coloration and by the following combination of c...

A common way of illustrating phylogeographic results is through the use of haplotype networks. While these networks help to visualize relationships between individuals, populations, and species, evolutionary studies often only quantitatively analyze genetic diversity among haplotypes and ignore other network properties. Here, we present a new metri...

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...

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...

https://periodicos.ufes.br/sebivix/article/view/34708

Overfishing is notorious for triggering population collapses and disrupting marine biological functioning worldwide. To counter such a threat, policy-makers have created and implemented multiple management strategies, but most were incapable to prevent the decline of several key species. Here, we discuss a new management strategy in force since Jun...

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)...

Mesophotic ecosystems (MEs) are characterized by the presence of light-dependent organisms, found at depths ranging from ~30 to 150 m in temperate, subtropical and tropical regions. These communities occasionally create massive reef structures with diverse but characteristic morphologies, which serve as the framework builders of those ecosystems. I...

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, however, the diversity of fishes from deep habitats (> 30 m depth) had not been previously studied in d...

Conservation science is a mission-driven discipline, yet there are few assessments on whether conservation practices follow scientific recommendations, and thus missed opportunities for improvement. Brazil has among the greatest gaps in species protection by Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) globally and is thus a priority for future marine conservatio...

Two new species of Plectranthias perchlets are described, collected from mesophotic coral ecosystems in French Polynesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, in the tropical Central Pacific. Plectranthias polygoniussp. nov. was collected at a depth of 105 m in Tahiti, French Polynesia, and 120 m in Maloelap Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Isla...

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...

Artificial intelligence through machine learning is advancing the power of collecting and processing data for nature conservation. Machine learning algorithms are applied to identify species predict extinction probabilities and assess fisheries global data, and this technology could be employed in coral reef ecology studies to understand large-scal...

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...

A new species of Chromis (Teleostei: Pomacentridae) is described from three specimens collected at 90 m depth in a mesophotic coral ecosystem at Rapa Nui, Chile. Chromis mamatapara, new species, can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: dorsal-fin rays XIV,13–14; pectoral-fin rays 18–19, third from top of f...

Among the four butterflyfishes of the genus Chaetodon present in the western Atlantic, the banded butterflyfish Chaetodon striatus has the largest distribution range, spanning 44 degrees of latitude (from Massachusetts, USA to Santa Catarina, Brazil). Although the ecology of the banded butterflyfish has been well studied over its entire range, noth...

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) and temperate mesophotic ecosystems (TMEs) occur at depths of roughly 30–150 m depth and are characterized by the presence of photosynthetic organisms despite reduced light availability. Exploration of these ecosystems dates back several decades, but our knowledge remained extremely limited until about a decade ag...

Predator-prey relationships are critical components of population dynamics across all ecosystems. Interactions between predators and dangerous prey are especially likely to result in a co-evolutionary arms race. To avoid pre- dation, porcupinefishes (Diodontidae) present a suite of physical and chemical defences, including spines, inflation, and th...

The biology of the sparid, Acanthopagrus berda (goldsilk sea bream) was investigated using catch samples obtained from artisanal fishers at selected fish landing sites in the Marereni and Ngomeni fishing areas on the north coast of Kenya. This species has not previously been studied in Kenya although it forms significant proportions of artisanal fi...

The Philippines is often highlighted as the global epicenter of marine biodiversity, yet surveys of reef-associated fishes in this region rarely extend beyond shallow habitats. Here, we improve the understanding of fish species diversity and distribution patterns in the Philippines by analyzing data from mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; 30–150 m...

Islands are natural laboratories for evolution and biogeography studies. From MacArthur and Wil-son to present days, understanding processes such as dispersion, extinction, speciation and immigration is key to elucidate currents patterns of islands biogeography. However, these processes have been better investigated for terrestrial/aerial than for...

Cirrhilabrus wakanda sp. nov. is described on the basis of the holotype and four paratypes collected between 50 and 80m depth over low-complexity reef and rubble bottoms at the east coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa. The new species belongs to a group of fairy wrasses from the western Indian Ocean, sharing a combination of characters that include...

A new species of the genus Liopropoma Gill found on the lower mesophotic coral ecosystem of Pohnpei, Micronesia, is herein described. Liopropoma incandescens sp. nov. differs from its congeners in coloration, number of lateral-line scales, number of pectoral fin rays, body depth, and snout length. Liopropoma incandescens sp. nov. is the 31 st speci...

The Philippines is often highlighted as the globalepicenter of marine biodiversity, yet surveys of reef-asso-ciated fishes in this region rarely extend beyond shallowhabitats. Here, we improve the understanding of fish spe-cies diversity and distribution patterns in the Philippines byanalyzing data from mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs;30–150 m de...

A new species in the anthiadine genus Luzonichthys Herre, 1936 is described from a specimen collected at a depth of 83 m in a mesophotic coral ecosystem at Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Luzonichthys kiomeamea n. sp. can be distinguished from the 7 other valid Luzonichthys species by anal-fin and pectoral-fin counts, the number of lateral-line scales, t...

Chaetodontidae is among the most conspicuous families of fishes in tropical and subtropical coral and rocky reefs. Most ecological studies focus in the genus Chaetodon, while Prognathodes remains poorly understood. Here we provide the first account on the ecology of Prognathodesobliquus, a butterflyfish endemic to St. Peter and St. Paul’s Archipela...

Fishes are an important component of coral reef ecosystems, and in comparison to other marine phyla, the taxonomy of fishes is relatively robust. Some of the earliest explorations of mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) involving both submersibles and rebreather diving focused on fishes. Since 1968, over 400 publications have documented fishes on MCE...

Indirect evidence for the occurrence of mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) in Brazil dates back to the 1960s. Only in the last 10 years have Brazilian MCEs been studied systematically, through the use of new tools such as trimix technical diving (open and closed circuit), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), drop cameras, submersibles, and sidescan s...

Three new species of Chromis (Perciformes, Pomacentridae) from the Philippines, collected between 75-150 m depth, are described by a combination of morphological features and their coloration. Chromis gunting sp. n. was found in Batangas and Oriental Mindoro, and differs from its congeners in body depth (2.1-2.2 in SL), and color of adults, light b...

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) have historically been considered more stable than shallow reefs and thus suggested to provide refuge to coral reef communities against natural and anthropogenic impacts. Despite this assumption, a growing body of literature has shown that deep reefs are not immune to natural disturbance. Here, based on our in sit...

The deeper parts of coral reefs, called mesophotic coral ecosystems, or “the twilight zone,” are one of the least explored places on Earth. Our team of scientists uses technical diving equipment to swim into the twilight zone. Because these reefs are so deep, we can only stay there for 15–20 min on each dive. This is a very short time to study the...

In June 5–9, 2017, during the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference, 143 governments, signatory parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) declared their commitment and strategies to reach several objectives of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, which stands to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources...

Diversity patterns are determined by biogeographic, energetic, and anthropogenic factors, yet few studies have combined them into a large‐scale framework in order to decouple and compare their relative effects on fish faunas. Using an empirical dataset derived from 1527 underwater visual censuses (UVC) at 18 oceanic islands (five different marine p...

The Franciscana dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei), a small cetacean endemic to southwestern Atlantic coastal waters, is the most endangered marine mammal species in the south Atlantic. In the Espírito Santo State, in southeastern Brazil, the Franciscana dolphin distribution overlaps regions suppressed and threatened by an intensive industrial and po...

The harvesting of marine organisms for aquarium and ornamental art crafts is a very common and widespread activity, threatening a number of coral reef species. The goal of this manuscript is to report the intensive harvesting of two marine invertebrate species, the starfish Oreaster reticulatus and the gorgonian Phyllogorgia dilatata, in reef envir...

During a recent expedition to St. Paul’s Rocks, Atlantic Ocean, a distinctive and previously unknown species of Anthiadinae was collected at a depth of 120 m. A genetic analysis indicated the undescribed species is a member of the genus Tosanoides , which was only known to occur in the Pacific Ocean. This new taxon is distinguishable from all other...

The rapid degradation of coral reefs is one of themost serious biodiversity problems facing our generation. Mesophotic coral reefs (at depths of 30 to 150 meters) have been widely hypothesized to provide refuge from natural and anthropogenic impacts, a promise for the survival of shallow reefs. The potential role of mesophotic reefs as universal re...

Accompanying the recent technological innovations in remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), submersibles, technical SCUBA, and closed-circuit rebreather diving gear, new discoveries are being made on mesophotic coral ecosystems around the world. However, collecting live fishes from mesophotic depths (60–150 m) is challenging, given the difficulty of ac...

A new species of the perchlet genus Plectranthias is herein described from a single specimen found at Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the South Pacific. Plectranthiasahiahiata sp. n. was collected at a depth of 83 m in a mesophotic coral ecosystem at Rapa Nui. The main difference between Plectranthiasahiahiata and other members of the genus is higher f...