“O Check List weir te =, ey | J or NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Check List 14 (2): 323-327 B https://doi.org/10.15560/14.2.323 PENSUFT. Megalops atlanticus Valenciennes, 1847 (Elopiformes, Megalopidae): new records for the state of Sao Paulo, with comments on its occurrence in the southeastern coast of Brazil, Southwest Atlantic Domingos Garrone-Neto,' Alexandre Rodrigues? 1 Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus Experimental de Registro, Avenida Nelson Brihi Badur 430, Registro, SP 11900-000, Brazil. 2 Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus Botucatu, Rua Prof. Dr. Antonio Celso Wagner Zanin s/n°, Botucatu, SP 18618-689, Brazil. Corresponding author: Domingos Garrone-Neto, garroneneto@registro.unesp. br Abstract New records of Megalops atlanticus Valenciennes, 1847 in the state of SAo Paulo, southeastern Brazil, are reported from recreational catches carried out in February 2017. Data collected is the first occurrence of this species in more than 50 years, extending its geographic distribution by about 250 km, from Cananéia, in the south, to Guaruja, on the central coast. Although rarely recorded, M. atlanticus is present off the coast of Sao Paulo. This possibly represents the southernmost distribution for M. atlanticus in the Southwest Atlantic. Key words Tarpon; geographical distribution; wide-ranging species; recreational fishing; citizen science; conservation. Academic editor: Hudson Tercio Pinheiro | Received 30 August 2017 | Accepted 28 December 2017 | Published 16 March 2018 Citation: Garrone-Neto D, Rodrigues A (2018) Megalops atlanticus Valenciennes, 1847 (Elopiformes, Megalopidae): new records for the state of Sao Paulo, with comments on its occurrence in the southeastern coast of Brazil, Southwest Atlantic. Check List 14 (2): 323-327. https://doi. org/10.15560/14.2.323 Introduction Panama and Costa Rica, and to the south, in Colombia (and possibly north of Ecuador) (Breder 1939, Swanson 1946, Saldanha and Whitehead 1990, Colamarco 2005, Neira and Acero 2016). Megalops atlanticus is categorized as Vulnerable Megalops atlanticus Valenciennes, 1847 (Elopiformes, Megalopidae), popularly known as Tarpon in English, sabalo in Spanish, and camarupim or tarpao in Portuguese, is widely distributed in the naesiein Atlantic Ocean, from globally and in Brazil by the International Union for Con- Nova Scotia (Canada) to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo servation of Nature, and the Brazilian List of Endangered (Brazil) (Sadowsky 1958, Zale and Merrifield 1989, Animals, respectively (Adams et al. 2012, BRASIL/ Crabtree et al. 1993, Adams et al. 2012). This species is WMA 2014). In Brazil, M. atlanticus occurs mainly in also in the Eastern Atlantic, off Africa, from Mauritania tropical waters, especially along the northeast coast, to Angola (Anyanwu and Kusemiju 2008), and in the where it is nearshore, in estuaries, and even hundreds of North Atlantic (Portugal, including the Azores, France, kilometers upstream in rivers and lakes. This species is a and Ireland) (Twomey and Byrne 1985). After traversing _ target of coastal artisanal fisheries and is highly appreci- the Panama Canal, M. atlanticus has also become estab- _ ated by anglers due to its fighting nature when hooked lished in the Western Pacific, along the coast between (Ault 2008, Fedler 2013). Copyright Garrone-Neto and Rodrigues. 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. 324 Although M. atlanticus is considered a long distance migrant (Ault 2008, Luo and Ault 2012), little is known about its life history. Most information is available from studies carried out in Florida (United States), in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Bahamas, where M. atlanticus supports a popular, lucrative, and predominantly catch- and-release recreational fishery (Ault 2008, Fedler 2013). From Brazil, outdated information suggests that large shoals of M. atlanticus move from the coastal waters of Para and Maranhao to the nearshore zone of Ceara for spawning, returning to the waters of origin in early February (Menezes and Paiva 1966, Menezes 1968). In southeastern Brazil, M. atlanticus is rarely recorded for Sao Paulo state, where it may occur sporadically. There is an old report of 2 specimens captured in Cananéia on the south coast of this state in October 1958 (Sadowsky 1958). However, current information on the presence of M. atlanticus in Sao Paulo 1s not available in academic literature. Thus, we present new records of M. atlanti- cus for Sao Paulo, provide new data on its capture on the south coast, and extend the occurrence of the species to the north in areas under strong anthropogenic impact. We comment on how the lack of appropriate monitoring of recreational fisheries affect the actual knowledge of catches in Brazil of M. atlanticus and how information obtained directly from fishing guides might contribute important data on the occurrence of this species in the Southwest Atlantic. Methods Data were provided by 2 fishing guides who had their catches of M. atlanticus published in electronic portals and social media. They were contacted by us by phone and email and invited to share their experiences. Informa- tion such as date, place, time, depth, and conditions of the captures (fishing equipment such as hook type, bait or lures, fight duration, etc.), general conditions (size of the fish) and fate of the animals (released or landed) was shared. The general knowledge of the fishing guides about the legislation that relevant to this species was also collected. We consulted specialists of the ichthyological collection of the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo (MZUSP), the ichthyological literature, elec- tronic portals dedicated to the recreational fishing, and the fishery landings database of the Programa de Monito- ramento da Atividade Pesqueira Marinha e Estuarina do Instituto de Pesca de Sao Paulo (PROPESQ) looking for catch data of M. atlanticus in Sao Paulo. The PROPESQ database was consulted using the descriptor tarpdo and the following variables: year, month, municipality, kilo- grams in the period, and number of landings in the period. The identification of the specimens was made using photos and videos shared by the fishing guides, and following Figueiredo and Menezes (1978) and Nelson et al. (2016). Due to the use of third-party information, voucher specimens were unavailable for deposition in scientific collections. Check List 14 (2) Results Seven records of M. atlanticus for Sao Paulo were found through the sources consulted (Fig. 1, Table 1). Three of these records came from the fisheries monitoring con- ducted by the Sao Paulo government since 1998, with information on the date and place of landing and quantity of fish landed, in kilograms. No data on the number of individuals landed and specific locations were available from the PROPESQ database. The remaining records included other sources such as an old publication (Sadowsky 1958), which presented records of 2 catches, and 2 recent captures of M. atlanti- cus shared by fishing guides. The guides mentioned that M. atlanticus was acci- dentally captured when they were targeting mainly fish of the family Carangidae, using artificial shrimp on weighted jig-head J-hooks and conventional light- strength spinning rods. Deep hooking was not observed. Tight time was estimated to be 1h20 for the Santos/Gua- ruja capture and 0h30 for the Cananéia capture. In both cases, the guides reported that the fishes were in good condition. The guides noted that this species was easily distinguishable from other large species that they were targeting because it presents a single dorsal fin midway along the body and with the last ray greatly prolonged; it has a silver coloration given by the almost vertical large scales; it exhibits a superior mouth with the lower mandible extending far beyond the gape; and it presents a deeply falcate anal fin and a large, dark and strongly forked caudal fin (Fig. 2). Fishing guides highlighted that atlanticus was not the target of their fisheries and that they were surprised to observe this fish in S40 Paulo—and to watch the jumps of the tarpon during the fight. In Santos/Guaruyja the fish died after being landed for pictures and hook removal. In Cananéia the fish escaped when landing. Neither guide was aware that M. atlanticus is listed as Vulnerable in the Brazilian List of Endangered Animals and fully protected in Brazil, with the prohibition of its capture and landing. One of the fishing guides mentioned having taken notice about this prohibition only after the announcement in social networks of its capture. Discussion The occurrence of M. atlanticus in Sao Paulo was based only in anecdotal observations made in the 1950s on the south coast by Sadowsky (1958) and on uncertain data (see below) from the PROPESQ database. According to Sadowsky, the fishers of the Cananéia lagoon-estuarine complex knew about the occurrence of Tarpon, but considered its capture uncommon, with only 2 to 4 individuals captured each year during the warm season (September to March) (Sadowsky 1958). He thought that occurrence of M. atlanticus along the south coast of Sao Paulo could be explained as a few stray individuals that had entered the estuarine system after separating from a Garrone-Neto and Rodrigues | New records of Megalops atlanticus in Sao Paulo, southeastern Brazil 325 49°0"W 48°0O"W 47°0'W 23°0'S Sao Paulo 24°0'S 25°0'S Parana 46°0'W 45°0'W 44°0"'W Minas Gerais Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Ocean sx Occurrences of 1958 A Occurrences of PROPESQ @ Occurrences of 2017 Figure 1. Records of Megalops atlanticus in the coast of Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil. The star represents the captures occurred in Cananéia, in 1958. The triangle shows the landings recorded in 2011, 2013 and 2014. The black dots constitute the captures occurred in Cananéia and Guaruja in 2017. Table 1. Summary of the records of Megalops atlanticus along the coast of Sao Paulo, southeastern Brazil, 1958-2017. Geographic coordi- nates (*) are approximate. TL = total length. Date Source Location Latitude* 18 Oct.1958 Sadowsky 1958 Cananeia 25°05'10"S 18 Oct.1958 Sadowsky 1958 Cananeia 25°05'10"S June 2011 PROPESQ Santos/Guaruja — June 2013 PROPESQ Peruibe — March 2014 PROPESQ Santos/Guaruja — 8Feb.2017 Fishing guide Guaruja, around 24°03’04"S pers. com. Moela I. 26 Feb. 2017 Fishing guide Cananéia, near 25°06'54"S pers. com. Bom Abrigo I. school at the end of a long migration (Sadowsky 1958). The recent records of M. atlanticus in Cananéia, Peruibe, and Santos/Guaruja corroborate the hypothesis proposed by Sadowsky (1958) and attest to the possibil- ity of sporadic occurrences along the Sao Paulo coast. However, some caution is needed when comparing data from the commercial fisheries and those from the rec- reational segment. The 3 records from the PROPESQ Longitude* 047°47'52"W 15 195 45.7 047°47'52"W 16 — = 046°15’57"W 10 150 30.0 047°51'24"W 8 Depth TL Weight (m) (cm) (kg) Observation Male, gonads in regression, without any fat reserves Mutilated animal; fish similar to the previous record _— — 22.0 Information based only in fishing landings; Number of individuals not informed; No information about the approximate location Information based only in fishing landings; Number of individuals not informed; No information about the approximate location — — 80.0 Information based only in fishing landings; Number of individuals not informed; No information about the approximate location Captured, not released; Animal died possibly due to exhaustion Not landed, escaped; supplementary material on the capture available database are limited because the number of individuals and the specific location of the fisheries are not recorded. Only a large fishing area, between the central coast of Espirito Santo and the south coast of Rio de Janeiro, between 10-60 m of depth, was reported, which might mean that the captures of M. atlanticus were outside of Sao Paulo. In contrast, the recreational catches of atlanticus presented a higher degree of resolution, con- 326 Check List 14 (2) \ x i : : . 7 j Wy _ eo Ky | ie [ Figure 2. Megalops atlanticus (TL 150 cm) caught around the Moela Island, Guaruja. It is possible to note the large and silver scales, the superior mouth with the lower mandible extending far beyond the gape and the large, dark and strongly forked caudal fin of the fish (Photo credits: Nam Kyu Lee). firming the capture of the species in Sao Paulo, around coastal islands, between depths of 7-15 m. The available information about captures of M. atlanticus along the Brazilian coast indicates that catches become more frequent to the north, from Bahia to Amapa (Menezes and Paiva 1966, Menezes 1968, Lopes and Sena 1996). The 2017 Sao Paulo captures show that M. atlanticus is present along the coast of Sao Paulo, but rarely captured. SAo Paulo may possibily be at the southernmost limit of this species’ distribution in the Southeastern Atlantic. As M. atlanticus is normally distributed in tropical to warm-temperate waters and the average sea surface temperature for February 2017 along the coast of Sao Paulo (Guaruja/Santos and Cananéia) was 27 °C (NOAA 2017), this species may not be as rare there as it is thought. The recreational fishing may provide relevant ichtyofaunal data, including for species with few records such as M. atlanticus in Sao Paulo, even if there are inherent limitations. Nevertheless, the lack of monitoring of the recreational fishing in Brazil (Freire et al. 2015, Motta et al. 2016), besides neglecting data on the volume captured, makes it impossible to incorporate capture data in the official databases. The recent captures of M. atlanticus in Sao Paulo are associated with coastal islands about 1.5 km off the coast near 2 large estuaries (Guaruja/Santos and Cananéia). These new data update the occurrence of M. atlanticus in Sao Paulo by more than 50 years and extends the range of this species occurrence northward by about 250 km. These data also reinforce the fact that adult tarpon (> 100-110 cm total length) are primarily coastal fishes that inhabit inshore waters and bays of tropical countries (Figueiredo and Menezes 1978, Ault 2008, Nelson et al. 2016). As the estuarine area of Guaruja/Santos is under strong anthropogenic impacts, such as fisheries, oil and gas exploration, and expansion of port areas, and that most islands located along the coast of Cananéia have perimeters of fishing exclusion, it should be noted that the main threats to M. atlanticus include habitat loss (especially to 0O—9-year-old sexually immature individu- als) and large directed recreational fishing throughout its range (Adams et al. 2012). As there is evidence of regional declines for M. atlanticus and concerns about long-term population stability (Holt et al. 2005, FAO 2015), the dissemination of information to the fishing sector (with emphasis on the recreational segment), in association with an improvement in the monitoring of the activity, is needed and could improve information on the occurrence of the species and the management of its catches in southeastern Brazil. Acknowledgements The fishing guides Marcos Paulo Zettritz and Silvio Kuramoto kindly shared photographs, videos, and infor- mation on the captures of M. atlanticus. Alessio Datovo da Silva and Osvaldo Takeshi Oyakawa readily shared information in the MZUSP’s ichthyological collection. Jocemar Tomasino Mendonca contributed with details about records from the PROPESQ database. Cristiano Borges Muriana shared information about the capture from off Moela Island, Guaruja. Two anonymous refer- ees made valuable suggestions to the manuscript. For all, sincere thanks are necessary. Garrone-Neto and Rodrigues | New records of Megalops atlanticus in Sao Paulo, southeastern Brazil 327 Authors’ contributions DGN made contributions throughout the manuscript, from its conception, data collection and manuscript prep- aration to conclusions. AR contributed the general idea, organized the figures and made contributions throughout all the text. 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United States Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 82: 1-17. Supplementary File A video (MP4 format), showing the capture near Bom Abrigo Island, Cananeia, is available as a supplementary file.