Comportamento de fuga de peixes alvo da pesca-sub em recifes com diferentes manejos

Abstract

An unsuccessful escape, by an animal under threat of predation, represents death and the loss of all fitness that could be acquired in the future. However, even prey that suffers a non-lethal injury with the attack of a predator may have substantial costs to carry out activities that increase your fitness. Therefore, the level of predation risk imposed by a predator is able to shape the escape decision and, therefore, the individual behavior in their habitat. This study aimed to investigate the escape behavior of reef fish with different capture status by spearfisher, and, how is the perception of these animals to the risk of capture in marine areas with distinct anthropic activities. For this, were made the Flight Initiation Distance (DIF) measurements of Acanthurus bahianus, Epinephelus adscensionis, and Chaetodon striatus, and evaluated the influence of distinct factors on escape decisions. Underwater surveys were performed on fishery and tourism sites along the northeastern coast of Brazil, in the cities of Tamandaré - PE, Maragogi - AL, Maceió - AL, e Salvador - BA. The results highlighting that FID of A. bahianus is influenced by body size and substrate type. Besides that, the DIF of three study species was influenced by the protection status of the marine area, but differences between tourism and fishery sites was just found for E. adscensionis. Thereby, this study points that reef fish react to spearfisher approach as they react to their natural predators, keeping alert where the disturb, or the risk of capture, is elevated. This knowledge can be used for assessing the effect of anthropic activities, as fishing and diving, on the antipredator behavior of reef fish and thus, develop strategies to reduce the deleterious effects on individual, population or community level. With FID’s measures, it is possible to say how much reef fish are alert with human presence and, thenceforth, estimate minimal distances of a diver approach before start a disturbance, or indicate areas where anthropic activities should be reduced or banned.