Oil spills: The invisible impact on the base of tropical marine food webs.

The Brazilian oil spill, from August 2019 to January 2020, was considered the most extensive accident in tropical oceans. We estimated the concentration of oil droplets that may be available for ingestion by microzooplankton. The collection was carried out in three areas: estuarine plume, bay and reef (Tamandaré, Pernambuco coast). We highlight the contribution of coral larvae in the reef region, surpassing the copepods, evidencing a spawning event. Oil droplets were recorded in all the sampled areas, with a high numerical abundance in the plume. Traces of oil ingestion by Brachyura zoea and Calanoida, Paracalanidae and Oithonidae copepods were observed, suggesting that these groups might have an important role in the degradation and final destination of oil dispersed after spills. The vulnerability of the larval phases of crabs and reef-building corals has been hypothesized, suggesting that the negative effects of oil on zooplankton can affect the recruitment of benthic invertebrates.

First record of Naushonia sp. (Decapoda: Laomediidae) larva from the Equatorial Atlantic.

The first zoeal-stage larva of a possibly new species of mud shrimp Naushonia (Decapoda: Gebiidea: Laomediidae) was described from plankton samples taken off the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, being the first occurrence at the oceanic islands of the Equatorial Atlantic. Five zoea I larvae were obtained and dissected for observation of mouthparts. This zoea I of Naushonia sp. is well distinguished from the first larvae of N. portoricensis (Rathbun 1901) from the Caribbean and N. cangronoides (Kingsley 1897) from the Northwest Atlantic in terms of development and setation of appendages, and possibly belongs to a new, undescribed species. The present study widens the knowledge on tropical oceanic decapod larvae and provides detailed drawings and new photographic illustrations with extended depth of field of these organisms.