FEEDING HABITS OF MARINE TUCUXI, SOTALIA FLUVIATILIS,

The marine tucuxi, Sotalia fluviatilis (Gervais, 1853), is one of the smallest cetaceans known, with the maximum length of 2.2 m (Jefferson et al., 1993), and is described as having coastal habits and a continuous distribution along most part of the Brazilian coast (Borobia et al., 1991). According to the 2002 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2002), S. fluviatilis is classified as a Data Deficient (DD) species. In Brazil, marine tucuxi has been frequently by-caught in fishing activities along the northeastern coast (Siciliano, 1994). Monteiro-Neto et al. (2000) reported the death of 76 individuals in Ceará State, which were found stranded or entangled in fishing nets from January 1992 to December 1998. Stomach contents analysis is a very useful and trusting tool to determine the species ingested by cetacean