Identification and distribution of juvenile Scombridae (Osteichthyes, Perciformes) in southern Brazil

Abstract

Juvenile scombrid fishes of eight species collected from stomach of tunas and related species are described. The vertical distribution of S. japonicus, S. sarda, A. thazard, E. alletteratus and K. pelamis is tentatively presented according to the distribution of their most important predators. C. hippurus was the most important predator of the upper epipelagic zone, the billfishes (I. albicans and T. albidus) were the most important predators in the middle and deeper epipelagic zone and T. albacares, comparatively, was a poor predator of juveniles of species of its own family.