Ichthyoplankton composition from ECOPEL cruise 1, Southern Brazilian Shelf, in 1987

The ECOPEL cruise series were part of the "Estudo do Ecossistema Pelágico do Extremo Sul do Brasil" project conducted by the Department of Oceanography of the Federal University of Rio Grande. The four seasonal cruises covered a region between the 32ºS and 34º30'S in the South Brazil Shelf. Ten transects (11 on the 1st cruise) perpendicular to the coastline with stations spaced 20 nautical miles (~ 37 km) apart were performed by the research vessel Atlantico Sul, and resulted in approximately 57 oceanographic stations per cruise limited to the 500 m isobath (Vasconcellos & Castello, 1996; Marcon, 2003).