Abstract Plastic pollution represents a threat to marine ecosystems and has therefore been gaining space in the realm of public interest. In this study, we investigated the ingestion of food and non-food items (i.e., plastic particles) by fish and crabs. These animals are commonly collected by trawling with a double-ring net along the coast of Cananéia, state of São Paulo, Brazil; some of them are consumed as food by the local population. Fish and crab stomachs were removed and dissected, and their contents were examined under a stereoscopic microscope with an image-capturing system. The presence or absence of plastic was also registered. We examined 139 specimens of 16 fish species and 143 specimens of four crab species. The most frequent food items found in fish were unidentified food, followed by crustaceans, molluscs, polychaetes, and other fish; in crabs, the items were unidentified food, followed by crustaceans, molluscs and fish. Plastic particles were found in all fish species, representing 47.5% of the individuals analysed. In crabs, the incidence of plastic was lower, occurring in only two species (5% in Callinectes danae and 3% in C. ornatus). Only four fish species analysed had previous records of plastic ingestion in the scientific literature. The high incidence of microplastics in our study is worrying because they negatively affect the animals’ lives and can be transferred through the tropic web to top predators, including humans, through the ingestion of contaminated animals.

Abstract Aeglids are endemic crustaceans from the Neotropical region of South America, with great importance in the freshwater food chain. We investigated the trophic relationships in different streams containing Aegla castro Schmitt, 1942 through the use of stable isotopes, testing the hypothesis that these animals occupy a lower position and that the environments are different and will modulate the isotopic ratios of carbon and nitrogen. Aegla castro showed a low trophic level in all locations, being an important link between producers and other trophic levels. They present differences in their isotopic signature for the sampling areas, indicating that environment can be a factor that modulates the trophic webs. We did not find intraspecific differences in isotopic signatures, probably due to the similar food items consumed by both juveniles and adults foraging in the same locations. Studies like this are becoming increasingly important due to the rapid degradation of freshwater environments and the lack of trophic knowledge about these endemic animals. It is increasingly important to understand how environmental changes (such as through anthropogenic action) is interfering in freshwater trophic relationships, and how this can affect the permanence of aeglids.

Abstract We estimated the growth parameters of the spider crab, Libinia ferreirae (age, asymptotic size and growth rate) using the von Bertalanffy growth equation model. We obtained nine cohorts for female carapace asymptotic width (CW∞) = 64.32 mm, growth coefficient (day-1) (k) = 0.0027 e t0= 0.77 days) and seven for males (CW∞ = 81.93 mm, k= 0.0021 e t0= 0.49 days). The longevity for males was higher than that for females, estimated 2,156 days (5.91 years) and 1,706 days (4.68 years), respectively. The growth curves for males and females differed (F = 34.67 e p < 0.001). Males reached gonadal maturity before morphometric maturity and occurred at 8.8 and 16.6 months of life, respectively. Females reach gonad and morphometric maturity synchronously and this was estimated to occur at about 11.42 months of life. These crabs invest a great amount of energy in growth during a brief period of their development until reaching the terminal moult. This growth strategy would bring less wear to the organism and consequently a greater longevity.