Resumo Um grupo de trabalho de costões rochosos (GT) integrado à ReBentos (Rede de Monitoramento de Habitats Bentônicos Costeiros), e vinculado à Sub-Rede Zonas Costeiras da Rede Clima (MCT) e ao Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Mudanças Climáticas (INCT-MC), foi criado para estudar a vulnerabilidade das comunidades bentônicas dos costões rochosos e os efeitos das alterações ambientais sobre a respectiva biota. A presente síntese foi um dos produtos desse GT e teve como objetivo principal levantar e revisar o conhecimento existente sobre as comunidades bentônicas de costões rochosos na costa brasileira, a biodiversidade associada, e verificar as potencialidades de estudos futuros para uma previsão/mensuração mais acurada dos efeitos das mudanças climáticas sobre os ambientes e sua biota.

Abstract A rocky shores working group (WG) integrated with ReBentos (Monitoring Network for Coastal Benthic Habitats; Rede de Monitoramento de Habitats Bentônicos Costeiros) was created and linked to the Coastal Zones Sub Network of the Climate Network (MCT; Sub-Rede Zonas Costeiras da Rede Clima) and to the National Institute of Science and Technology for Climate Change (INCT-MC; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Mudanças Climáticas), to study the vulnerability of benthic communities on rocky shores and the effects of environmental changes on biomes in such environments along the Brazilian coast. The synthesis presented here was one of the products of this GT, and aimed to collect and review existing knowledge on benthic communities present on rocky shores of the Brazilian coast, their associated biodiversity, and the potential of future studies to accurately predict/measure the effects of climate change on such environments and their biota.

Serranus aliceae sp. n. é descrita do Rio de Janeiro e Espírito Santo, costa sudeste do Brasil. Esta espécie é facilmente distinguível de suas congêneres pela seguinte combinação de caracteres: escamas ao redor do pedúnculo caudal 20 ou 21; rastros no primeiro arco branquial 23-29; 5 ou 6 séries de escamas na bochecha e pelo colorido de espécimes vivos, que têm corpo avermelhado com uma larga e evidente faixa branca que se estende da região pós-orbital à base da nadadeira caudal, e o ventre branco. A espécie nova aparentemente habita a parte profunda (30 metros ou mais) de ambientes recifais ao longo da costa subtropical brasileira, e possivelmente está associada a áreas de ressurgência. A espécie foi observada pairando acima de fundos rochosos, alimentando-se de microcrustáceos, larvas de lulas e zooplâncton. Esta espécie nova aumenta para oito o número de espécies válidas de Serranus registradas no Atlântico Sudoeste.

Serranus aliceae n. sp. is described from Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo States, southeastern Brazilian coast. The species is readily distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: scales around the caudal peduncle 20 or 21; total gill rakers on first branchial arch 23-29; cheek-scales rows 5 or 6; and by the coloration of live specimens, which are reddish with a broad, conspicuous, white stripe from post-orbital region to the caudal-fin base and a white abdomen. The new species apparently inhabits the deeper (30 or more meters) portions of reef environments along the subtropical Brazilian coast, and is possibly associated with upwelling cold-water masses. The species was observed hovering above rocky bottoms, feeding on micro-crustaceans, squid larvae, and zooplankton. This new species increases to eight the number of valid Serranus species recorded in the southwestern Atlantic.

Harbor terminals and urban sewage effluents affect the composition and distribution of epibenthic organisms. In this study, we hypothesized that the benthic community structure at the Vitoria Harbor changes spatially in a ~3 km scale, and that these changes are associated with environmental gradients resulting from point-source sewage and differences in the physical and chemical parameters of the water along the harbor access channel. Four sites, internal (PI), intermediate-internal (PMI), intermediate-external (PME) and external (PE), varying from 0.5 to 4.0 km off the harbor, were sampled on five quadrats at six sampling dates (N = 30 per site). The epibenthic community on the shallow sublitoral rocky shore was sampled fortnightly from December 2005 to February 2006 by point-intersection method. A total of 27 taxa were registered with higher richness and diversity values at the external sites. The similarity analysis indicated two distinct systems, with the internal sites PI and PMI apart from the external PME and PE, which showed 97% of dissimilarity. While the internal sites presented some estuarine characteristics and a high coverage (> 60%) of hydrozoans and bryozoans with silt/clay, the external ones showed coastal water influence and higher amounts of sedimentary material substrate (> 50%). This pattern reflects the estuarine gradient and the suspended sedimentary material at the internal sites, which is carried out to the external parts of the channel. The data showed two distinct benthic communities and support the hypothesis that the community structure varies along the harbor access channel in a gradient from the inner to the outer portion of the estuary.