Influence of the exotic species African catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822) in Southern Bahia estuaries

• Grant number: 07/01786-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2007
• End date: August 31, 2008
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Fishery Resources and Fishery Engineering - Marine Fishing Resources
• Principal Investigator: Lucy Satiko Hashimoto Soares
• Grantee: Lucy Satiko Hashimoto Soares
• Host Institution: Instituto Oceanográfico (IO). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The present research project proposes to evaluate the influence of the African catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822), an exotic species, in the Itanhém river (Alcobaça-BA) food web and in the local fishery. Caravelas estuary will be considered as a control-site. Samples of C. gariepinus will be collected through gill nets, and then the gut will be removed to analyze it’s feeding habit. Stomach contents of two top predators (snook, Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch, 1792) and C. paralellus (Poey, 1860)) will also be analyzed to evaluate feeding overlap. Bottom trawls will be carried out to evaluate local ichthyofauna and predator selectivity. After all, social-economic survey will be necessary to evaluate the fisheries profile and market demand of this exotic species compared to that of native species. (AU)