Parrachos de Rio do Fogo

In Rio Grande do Norte, reefs like these are called parrachos, and their tops are partly exposed at low tide. Some say the Rio do Fogo reefs are not true parrachos but arrecifes; they lie closer to the coast than those of Maracajaú. A lighthouse next to the parrachos marks the reefs and keeps large vessels away, and it is one of the symbols of the place. In the region there are reports of manatees, especially when the water is murky.

Over the centuries, shipwrecks were frequent on the coral reefs of Maracajaú and Rio do Fogo. One of them was the English brig Orion, of 198 tons, which, loaded with coffee, struck and sank on the coral reefs off Rio do Fogo beach. The Lourenço Ferreira brothers (Mestre Julião, Miguelão and João), born in Rio do Fogo between 1852 and 1864, learned to dive on boats wrecked on the parrachos to salvage materials.

In the center of the parracho, stony corals cover the vertical walls, and along the edges facing the mainland there are hollows with algae, zoanthids, corals and molluscs. Among the corals, Siderastrea stellata predominates, and the fire coral Millepora alcicornis and Porites astreoides also occur. There are many small colorful fish: compared with those of Maracajaú, the fish are smaller but appear in greater numbers and closer. In the region, on the reefs of the Touros shelf, coralline algae and vermetid gastropods form a ridge on the seaward side, followed by a zone dominated by the fire coral Millepora alcicornis.