Intertidal benthic macrofauna of rare rocky fragments in the Amazon region.

Rock fragment fields are important habitat for biodiversity maintenance in coastal regions, particularly when located in protected areas dominated by soft sediments. Researches in this habitat have received surprisingly little attention on the Amazon Coast, despite rock fragments provide refuges, nursery grounds and food sources for a variety of benthic species. The present survey describes the mobile macroinvertebrate species composition and richness of the intertidal rocky fragments in Areuá Island within the "Mãe Grande de Curuçá" Marine Extractive Reserve (RESEX) on the Brazilian Amazon Coast.

Lipids as energy source during salinity acclimation in the euryhaline crab Chasmagnathus granulata dana, 1851 (crustacea-grapsidae).

Lipids seem to be the major energy store in crustaceans. Moreover, they are extremely important in maintaining structural and physiological integrity of cellular and sub cellular membranes. During salinity adaptation, energy-demanding mechanisms for hemolymph osmotic and ionic regulation are activated.