Astroscopus sexspinosus

Probably the last illustration for my monography, this time it will be used in the presentation! The Brazilian Stargazer is a barely-studied species of predatory fish found in the southern coast of Brazil, Uruguay, and northern Argentina. This species has multiple local names in Brazil, Miracéu being the most frequent and mainstream (roughly translating to "look-at-the-sky") but other names being used by fishermen, such as "calhau" in the coast of the state of Paraná and "lambra" in the coast of Santa Catarina. Why do I know this, you may ask? Well, this species was featured in my research project for my monography, a paper about trophic relationships between fisheries resources in the coast of Paraná, an area with limited information and real consequences for it's mishandling, such as trophic cascates. Although 14 species were featured in the paper (now recently finished), the Brazilian Stargazer was by far the most neglected species in regard to it's diet, with Priacanthus arenatus coming in second place. While P. arenatus had one paper describing their diet by chance in the South Atlantic, A. sexspinosus had only a single paper to be found regarding it's diet and behavior, and it was not a content description but a paper about interviews with fishermen of the neighboring state Santa Catarina. So while information about it's diet was not precise and reliant on other species of stargazers, I was able to identify at least three different taxa on the guts of 4 individuals during the period of Autumn, including one unidentified Paralichthyidae flounder on one stomach, two individuals of Etropus crossotus (another flounder) in another stomach, and the croaker Paralonchurus brasiliensis in another, with digested bones in the 4th one. It was proven that this species feeds on other species that are commercialized, but to properly understand the extent and importance of these and other dietary items in it's feeding habits, a year-long analysis of stargazer guts is much needed, something that I might work on in the near future. In the meanwhile, I drew this species since there are few references and close to no illustrations of it yet too, and now I got a nice fish image to use in my upcoming presentation.

About the art, I'm rusty. I've spent too much energy and time into writing my mono, so I drew this also as a way to warm up and awake my sleeping artist powers to get a proper work on yall's commissions. We are resuming activities, it's good to be back!