OBSERVATIONS ON SMALL-SCALE MOVEMENTS AND HABITAT USE OF LUTZ’S STINGRAY (Hypanus berthalutzae) OFF RECIFE, WITH METHOD TAIL TAG ATTACHMENT

Tail tag attachment and small-scale movements of Lutz’s stingray

Abstract

Acoustic telemetry is a commonly used method to collect presence and small-scale movement data from various aquatic organisms. Studies that aspire to identify the movement and habitat use of Lutz's stingray, Hypanus berthalutzae, are scarce in Brazil and concentrated on oceanic islands. The present research aimed to report a method for acoustic transmitter attachment in a large-bodied coastal stingray species, in addition to describing initial observations of the pattern in movement and habitat use by the Lutz's stingray, off Recife, in Northeast Brazil, tracked in nearshore waters off a 15-km stretch of urban coastline encompassing two estuaries. A total of 25 acoustic receivers were used to monitor the movements of the tagged Lutz's stingray. The detections from the tagged specimen were recorded by 28% of the receivers available in the study area. H. berthalutzae was present mostly during the night (96.4% of all detections), whereas only a few detections were registered during the day (3.6%). This study is the first report on the behavior of the Lutz's stingray, off Recife, in addition to improving good tagging practices in studies with rays.