Scientia Marina 75(1) March 2011, 135-146, Barcelona (Spain) ISSN: 0214-8358 doi: 10.3989/scimar.2011.75n1135 Spawning patterns of commercially important reef fish (Lutjanidae and Serranidae) in the tropical western South Atlantic MATHEUS OLIVEIRA FREITAS 1, RODRIGO LEÃO DE MOURA 2, RONALDO BASTOS FRANCINI-FILHO 3 and CAROLINA VIVIANA MINTE-VERA 4 1 Grupo de Pesquisa em Ictiofauna, Museu de História Natural Capão da Imbuia. Laboratório de Ictiologia, Rua Prof. Benedito Conceição, 407, Curitiba, PR, 82810-080, Brazil. 2 Conservation International Brazil, Marine Program, Rua das Palmeiras 451, Caravelas, BA, 45900-000, Brazil. E-mail:
[email protected] 3 Departamento de Engenharia e Meio Ambiente, Centro de Ciências Aplicadas e Educação, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Rua da Mangueira, s/n, Rio Tinto, PB, 58297-000, Brazil 4 Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aqüicultura, Avenida Colombo 5790, Bloco H-90, Maringá, PR, 87020-900, Brazil. SUMMARY: Although information on the spawning seasons of commercially important snappers (Lutjanidae) and groupers (Serranidae, subfamily Epinephelinae) is available for the north and central west Atlantic, there is little information for the tropical western South Atlantic (Brazil). As a consequence, there are few fishery regulations in this entire region that take into consideration such information. In this study, we characterized the reproductive cycles of three Epinephelinae serranids (Epinephelus morio, Mycteroperca bonaci and Cephalopholis fulva) and five lutjanids (Lutjanus synagris, L. jocu, L. analis, Ocyurus chrysurus and Rhomboplites aurorubens) that occur in the Abrolhos Bank, Brazil, the largest reef complex in the tropical western South Atlantic. A total of 3528 gonads were collected from May 2005 to October 2007.