This article probes the racially conflictual plotlines of mamulengo, a form of improvised popular puppetry in North-East Brazil. Drawing on a corpus of transcribed shows performed between the 1940s and 1970s, it shows how audacious Black protagonists – often named Baltazar or Benedito – took part in a game of racial ‘acrobatics’. By playing the roles of fools (bobos) and aggressors (desordeiros), these heroes simultaneously reproduced a racist status quo and offered a spirited and violent resistance to its abuses. While mamulengo has never been brought to bear on discussions of race in Brazil, this oft-overlooked form of cultural expression forces us to confront the uncomfortable aspects of race-making and belonging as they are elaborated ‘from below’.

Qualitative samples of ‘opisthobranchs’ were collected from different beaches and estuaries in Ceará State, North-east Brazil. Further species distributions from the literature were used to infer patterns of distribution and to analyse faunal similarity among Atlantic biogeographic areas, Brazilian zones and the Ceará State. A total of 35 new records are reported for the Ceará State, including 19 new records from the North-east Brazilian Shelf (NBS), 12 new from the Brazilian Province and two new records from the South Atlantic. More than half of the species in this area are common between the Caribbean and Brazilian provinces, which demonstrates their capacity for crossing the Amazon–Orinoco barrier. The high percentage of occurrence in the NBS and the South Brazilian Bight, when compared to neighbouring zones, may be attributed to the poor knowledge of the Brazilian ‘opisthobranch’ fauna.

Based on data from 151 underwater surveys (scuba) between 2002 and 2007, the present study assessed the reef fish fauna from a scarcely known region on the north-eastern Brazilian coast (Ceará State). A checklist of 179 taxa is provided and the zoogeographic patterns are analysed and discussed, including six other localities. Based only on assemblage composition, the reef fish fauna from Ceará showed a strong resemblance (73%) with the reefs of Risca do Zumbi (RN) and Paraiba (PB). The data from the visual censuses including abundance values corroborate the evaluation based only on composition and suggest ecological factors as the main drivers of the fish assemblages in the region.

A new species, Aciconula tridentata sp. nov., is described from the Brazilian coast. The type material were collected from Praia de Suape, Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Pernambuco, Brazil. This new species differs from all its congeners in having the propodus palm of male gnathopod 2 bearing a 3-dentate projection. Additionally, A. tridentata sp. nov. can be distinguished from A. australiensis and A. miranda in lacking a setose hump proximally in article 1 of the peduncle of antenna 1; the outer plate of maxilliped reaching the end of palp article 1, and the female pereopod 4 is 3-articulate. A key to species of the genus is provided.

A new species of eurysquilloid stomatopod, Eurysquilla petronioi sp. nov., is described from the tropical western Atlantic. Eurysquilla petronioi sp. nov. is the fourteenth species of the genus to be recognized worldwide, the fifth species from the western Atlantic and the second from Brazilian waters. It is most closely related to E. maiaguesensis from Puerto Rico, but differs chiefly in having an unarmed versus apically spinous rostral plate and 6 or 7 rather than 8–10 teeth on dactylus of raptorial claw. A key to the species of the genus is provided.

Based on specimens deposited in the scientific collections of the Reef Environment Laboratory of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, National Museum/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and Oceanography Department of the Federal University of Pernambuco, the first occurrences of the azooxanthellate scleractinians Polycyathus senegalensis and Eguchipsammia cornucopia from Brazilian waters are reported. In addition, latitudinal and/or bathymetric range extensions are reported for Caryophyllia ambrosia caribbeana, Caryophyllia antillarum, Premocyathus cornuformis, Deltocyathus calcar, Paracyathus pulchellus, Flabellum apertum, Sphenotrochus auritus, Madracis asperula and Astrangia solitaria.

The coloration pattern of the estuarine dolphin, Sotalia guianensis, does not display variations in its distribution and the colour grey, as its common name suggests, is predominant. On the coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte a dolphin was sighted with atypical coloration in relation to animals from that region. After observing its morphological characteristics, it was verified that the animal was a white specimen of S. guianensis. Although photographic recordings were made, the reddish coloration of the eye cannot be confirmed, a characteristic that would identify the animal as an albino dolphin. Despite not being very frequent, cases of coloration anomalies such as albinism have been previously recorded in 20 species of cetaceans. However, there have been no cases recorded for the estuarine dolphin.