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Trends and seasonality of the occurrence of hatched egg capsules of Rioraja agassizi (Müller & Henle 1841) (Chondrichthyes: Rajiformes) in a South Brazilian beach, Southwestern Atlantic Ocean

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Abstract

The Rio skate Rioraja agassizi is endemic to coastal waters of the Western South Atlantic. The species is common in the coasts of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Previous studies performed in South Brazil, demonstrated that its hatched egg capsules are the most abundant among the co-occurring species. The aim of this study was to assess seasonality in the monthly frequency of egg capsules of R. agassizi at Praia do Cassino (33°07′34″S 52°38′22″W/ 33.126080°S 52.639327°W), southernmost coast of Brazil, over a two-year sampling. The egg capsules were manually collected from the edge of the beach in a belt transect of 1 km long and ca. 0.1 km width, on a weekly basis. After the collections, the capsules were taken to the laboratory for identification at the species level and morphometric measurements. To study the seasonality in the oviposition in R agassizi, data were analyzed monthly, seasonally and annually; accordingly, the data were expressed as non-parametric and heterogeneous, thus, statistical tests were applied to verify trends, significant differences, and descriptive parameters within each scale. In the annual and interannual data, there were statistically significant differences and trends between the sampling periods. Thus, these series of data collected are in fact random and the values demonstrated a randomness in the study site. As for the seasonal data, at least one of the seasons has a significantly different distribution.

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Data availability

The data used in this work belong to the research project ‘‘Phylogenetic relationships, morphological, diversity and seasonal occurrence of skate egg cases (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea) from Southern Brazil’’, with registration under code PESQ 862 at FURG and are available under reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The present work constituted the Undergraduate Thesis of Natalia Silveira Gularte (Biological Sciences Course, FURG). Comments by Dr. Augusto Ferrari (Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, FURG) and Dr. Luis Gustavo Cardoso (Instituto de Oceanografia, FURG) on the first draft considerably improved the paper. Dr. Carolus Maria Vooren (IO-FURG) was the encourager of the development of a quantitative and continue monitoring program of the occurring of egg capsules by species over an extended time period at Cassino beach. This is the first paper on the subject and we dedicate it to his memory.

Funding

This study was granted by the Institutional Program of Scholarships of Scientific Initiation of the Brazilian National Council of Scientific and Technological Development of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (PIBIC/CNPq/FURG) during 2018–2021.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande – FURG, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas - ICB, Setor de Morfologia, Pesquisa Em Chondrichthyes, Av. Itália 8, Campus Carreiros, 96203-900, Rio Grande, RS, Brasil

    Natalia Silveira Gularte & María Cristina Oddone

  2. Laboratorio de Fisiologia de La Reproduccion Y Ecologia de Peces. Departamento de Biología Animal, Instituto de Biología Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La República (UDELAR), 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Walter Norbis

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  1. Natalia Silveira Gularte
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Correspondence to Natalia Silveira Gularte.

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The present work did not include any kind of animal sampling or experimentation. The egg capsules used were exclusively collected from the beach, already hatched.

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Gularte, N.S., Norbis, W. & Oddone, M.C. Trends and seasonality of the occurrence of hatched egg capsules of Rioraja agassizi (Müller & Henle 1841) (Chondrichthyes: Rajiformes) in a South Brazilian beach, Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Environ Biol Fish 106, 1569–1577 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01435-9

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