The purpose of this study was to describe the occurrence and the spatial partitioning of the most abundant juvenile sciaenid fishes in the Bay of Santos, based upon the variability in the occurrence and abundance and influence of environmental factors. Monthly diurnal beach seine haul and bottom trawl samples were made between March 1985 and May 1986. Twenty species of sciaenid fishes were collected in the region, all occurrying in bottom trawls and nine of them in beach seine hauls. Among them, Stellifer rastrifer, Isopisthus parvipinnis, Paralonchurus brasiliensis, Micropogonias furnieri, Stellifer brasiliensis, Menticirrhus americanus and Menticirrhus littoralis were found year-round and constituted more than 90 % of total catches from the Bay of Santos and adjacent beach region; their coexistence was possible due to seasonal and spatial differences in relative abundance and due to water temperature and salinity influence. S. rastrifer occurred mainly in bottom trawls, during winter, in colder waters with medium depth and salinity and in all strata. /. parvipinnis, P. brasiliensis and S. brasiliensis occurred mainly in bottom trawls, during winter, spring and fall, respectively, in colder, deeper and saltier waters and in outer strata. M. furnieri and M. americanus occurred in bottom trawls and beach seine hauls and, mainly, during summer, in warmer, shallower and with less salinity waters and in inner strata. A/, littoralis occurred mainly in beach seine hauls, during winter, in colder waters and in all sample stations.
Marine fish; Seasonal distribution; Biomass; Population number; Environmental effects; Sciaenidae; Estuaries; Santos; São Vicente; Brazil