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Records of the franciscana (<i>Pontoporia blainvillei</i>) in the southwestern Rio de Janeiro and northernmost São Paulo State coasts - Brazil

2002; Volume: 1; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5597/lajam00024

2236-1057

Alexandre de Freitas Azevedo, Ana Bernadete Lima Fragoso, José Lailson‐Brito, Haydée A. Cunha,

Ichthyology and Marine Biology

The franciscana (Pontoporia blainvillei) inhabits coastal waters of the western South Atlantic from Espirito Santo State (~18oS), Brazil (Siciliano, 1994) to Chubut Province (~42oS), Argentina (Crespo et al., 1998). Its distribution was assumed to be continuous. However recent studies have pointed out the existence of two discontinuities along the species range: between Ubatuba (23o20’S) and Macae (22o25’S) and between Barra de Itabapoana (21o18’S) and Regencia (19o40’S), southeastern Brazil (Siciliano and Santos, 1994; Siciliano, 2001). This note reports the occurrence of franciscana in the northernmost Sao Paulo State coast and southwestern Rio de Janeiro State coast (Figure 1). Information was obtained through a network of local volunteers and institutions, including governmental agencies and the media.