ATLAS OF MARINE BONY FISH OTOLITHS (SAGITTAE) OF SOUTHEASTERN-SOUTHERN BRAZIL PART I: GADIFORMES (MACROURIDAE, MORIDAE, BREGMACEROTIDAE, PHYCIDAE AND MERLUCCIIDAE); PART II: PERCIFORMES (CARANGIDAE, SCIAENIDAE, SCOMBRIDAE AND SERRANIDAE)

The drawings, detailed pictures, precise descriptions and measurements that characterize otoliths must be made available for studies in various areas, including taxonomy, phylogeny, ecology, fisheries, paleontology, diversity, predator-prey relationships and modeling. The Collection of Teleostei Fish Otoliths of Southeastern-Southern Brazil (COSS-Brasil) of IOUSP contains 45,000 pairs of otoliths from 210 species. This publication is the first in a series that will constitute an atlas of Teleostei otoliths for southeastern-southern Brazil and presents the results of the morphologic and morphometric analyses of 11 Gadiformes and 36 Perciformes species by means of the most commonly used features, measurements and indices. Three otoliths of each species were illustrated and photographed whenever possible. The frequency of occurrence was calculated for each characteristic by total length classes (TL), and the ontogenetic differences were analyzed (multiple.2 test; significance 0.05). Morphometric analyses were conducted for each characteristic per total length (TL) class and for the whole sample, and the ontogenetic differences were analyzed.