JMBA2 - Biodiversity Records Published on-line The pipeish Anarchopterus tectus in western South Atlantic: clariication of its southernmost distribution Cristina Sazima*, Alfredo Carvalho-Filho † and Ivan Sazima ‡∫ *Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. † Fish Bizz Ltda. Rua Moncorvo Filho 51, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. ‡ Museu de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil (retired and associated as voluntary researcher). ∫ Corresponding author, e-mail: isazima@gmail.com The geographic distribution of the pipeish Anarchopterus tectus in western South Atlantic is clariied based on three museum specimens and an underwater photograph. The known range for this reef pipeish is extended about 4000 km southwards in straight line and about 5500 km of coastline. The island pipeish (Anarchopterus tectus Dawson, 1978) ranges from Florida in the USA to Venezuela in Western North Atlantic (Dawson, 1978, 1982; Fritzche & Vincent, 2002), although some authors state that its distribution extends southwards to Argentina in western South Atlantic (e.g. Robins & Ray, 1986; Carvalho-Filho, 1999; Froese & Pauly, 2008). This latter claim, however, is in error and resulted from a lapsus calami (see Dawson, 1978). Here we record A. tectus from north-eastern and eastern Brazil based on museum specimens and an underwater photograph, thus extending its range considerably southwards and including this species among the reef ish fauna of western South Atlantic. We examined three specimens housed in two Brazilian scientiic collections, MZUSP (Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo) and ZUEC (Museu de Zoologia da Universidade Estadual de Campinas). The northernmost specimen is MZUSP 46335, a female 99.2 mm SL (standard length), 18+35 rings, 11 pectoral-in rays, collected at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (~03°50'S 32°25'W), off north-eastern Brazil. Specimen MZUSP 64634 is a male 93.7 mm SL, 17+33 rings, 11 pectoral-in rays, collected at Riacho Doce (~09°34'S 35°40'W),Alagoas, coastal north-eastern Brazil. The southernmost specimen is ZUEC 6312, a juvenile male 37.5 mm SL, 17+34 rings, 11 pectoral-in rays, collected at Praia do Forte, Mata de São João (~12°35'S 38°01'W), Bahia, coastal eastern Brazil. The latter specimen was photographed alive soon after collection (Figure 1). The counts of the three specimens are within the range reported for A. tectus by Dawson (1982). An individual with the diagnostic upwards arched short snout, and head and body cirri, was photographed underwater (Figure 2) at Abrolhos Archipelago off Bahia coast (~17°59'S 38°40'W), a little southwards to the locality of the ZUEC specimen. In addition to the three specimens housed in Brazilian collections, a specimen (UFLA 19240), identiied as Anarchopterus tectus by C.E. Dawson in August 1977 and collected at ‘Isla Itaparica’ (= Ilha de Itaparica) (~13°04'S 38°46'W), Bahia, Brazil, is displayed at the FLMNH Ichthyology Master Database of the University of Florida Fish Collection, searchable at http://www.lmnh. ul.edu/scripts/dbs/ish_pub_proc.asp. It strikes us that the UFLA specimen is not referred to in the revision of western Atlantic pipeishes (Dawson, 1982), the more so as the identiier of this specimen is the author of A. tectus (Dawson, 1978). This specimen apparently went overlooked by further authors, and the southernmost reported record for A. tectus remained Venezuela in the western North Atlantic (Dawson, 1978, 1982; Fritzche & Vincent, 2002), the mistaken southward records notwithstanding. Our report extends the known distribution range for this reef pipeish about 4000 km southwards in straight line and about 5500 km of coastline, and its occurrence in western South Atlantic is substantiated by at least four museum specimens. Keywords: Syngnathidae, insular pipeish, geographic distribution, southernmost record, Brazil Figure 1. A juvenile male of the island pipeish (Anarchopterus tectus), ZUEC 6312, photographed alive in a ield aquarium soon after collection. Photograph: Alfredo Carvalho-Filho.