Estudo da dieta de juvenis de Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758) no litoral de Ubatuba, SP

Abstract

A large number of Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758) young utilizes the northern coast of São Paulo state as feeding grounds. Great parts of these areas are located in Ubatuba. At this moment, there is a few data on C. mydas feeding habits in Brazil. Because of that, the objective of this study was to determine the C. mydas diet, and qualify and quantify its diet items. Twenty stomachs of C. mydas young individual were analyzed. These animals were found dead along Ubatuba coast and sent to Project TAMAR/ICMBio. All individuals were considered young because the curved carapace length was between 35 and 65, and the weight was between 7 and 8 Kg. Vegetables were the most frequent item found in the stomachs (seaweed and marine grass) representing 93,64% of the total, followed for anthropic material (4,71%) and animal material (1,65%). The seaweed family of Rhodophyta was the most abundant with Pteocldiella capillacea and Chodracanthus acicularis having the largest volumes, 44,5% and 42,3% respectively. Among the anthropic material, soft plastic was the most abundant (53%) and nylon the most frequent (45%). This results shows the importance of conservation programs for C. mydas among your feeding areas.