Accepted by D. Gordon: 6 Jun. 2014; published: 4 Jul. 2014 397 ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Copyright © 2014 Magnolia Press Zootaxa 3827 (3): 397–400 www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Correspondence http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3827.3.10 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B15E1DFE-9CF0-41A9-8C46-F21C585159BB Beroe gracilis (Ctenophora) from the Humboldt Current System: first occurrence of this species in the southern hemisphere OTTO M. P. OLIVEIRA 1 , GUILLERMO FELIÚ 2 & SERGIO PALMA 3 1 Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC, Rua São Paulo, s/n, Jd. Antares, 09606–070, São Bernardo do Campo, SP, Brazil. E-mail: otto.oliveira@ufabc.edu.br; 2 Instituto Milenio de Oceanografía y Programa de Magister en Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Barrio Universitario S/N, Concepción, Chile. E-mail: gfeliu@udec.cl 3 Escuela de Ciencias del Mar, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, P.O. Box 1020, Valparaíso, Chile. E-mail: spalma@ucv.cl Abstract Beroe gracilis Künne, 1939 is a small neritic ctenophore, previously recorded only from cold waters of the northern hemisphere. The present study provides the first record of the species in the southern hemisphere, found in the surface layer of the Humboldt Current System off the central Chilean coast (32°–36.5° S). A complete description of this material is provided. Key words: Beroidae, ctenophore, comb-jelly, gelatinous zooplankton, southeastern Pacific Introduction Beroe gracilis Künne, 1939 is a small, but important gelatinous predator in pelagic ecosystems. Naturally occurring in the North Atlantic, Baltic and North Seas and the northeastern Pacific, the species is responsible for population control of other swarming ctenophores, such as Pleurobrachia pileus (O.F.Müller, 1776) (Greve & Reiners 1988) and the invasive Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz, 1865 (Hosia et al. 2011). Based on its presence in the northern hemisphere, including in deep water off the Bahamas, Wrobel & Mills (2003) assumed the species would be distributed worldwide in cold water. There has, however, been no formal record for any southern ocean until now. This paper provides a record of B. gracilis from the southeastern Pacific, off the Chilean coast, and presents a description of the specimens observed. Material and methods A few specimens of B. gracilis were collected off Central Chile (32°–33° S) in September 1989, using a Bongo net with 60 cm diameter and 350 mm-mesh in oblique tows up to 200 m deep (see Palma 1994). In Valparaíso Bay (33° S), ten specimens were collected in October 1990 and seven specimens were collected in November 1990, using a Bongo net with 60 cm diameter and 350 mm-mesh in oblique tows up to 95 m deep. Sea temperature was 11–12°C at the time of collection (see Palma & Rosales 1995 for more details). Eleven B. gracilis specimens were collected in November 2013 off Dichato, on the central coast of Chile (36°30’ S, 73°05’ W), in oblique plankton tows using a WP-2 net with 250 mm-mesh and mouth area of 0.25 m 2 . Sea temperature was 10–12°C. Some specimens were maintained in aquaria with seawater at ambient temperature (15–20ºC) and photographed alive under a stereomicroscope. Other specimens were preserved in 4% neutralized formalin solution. Two vouchers were deposited in the Ctenophora collection of the ZooTaxa Millennium Institute of Oceanography at University of Concepción, Chile (access number ZOOTIMO201401).