First report of deep-sea copepod Megacalanus princeps Wolfenden, 1904 (Calanoidea: Megacalanidae) from southwestern Atlantic
Author
Alves-Júnior, Flavio de Almeida
Author
Correia, Érika Pinho
Author
Figueirêdo, Lucas Guedes Pereira
Author
Cunha, Aislan Galdino da
Author
Neumann-Leitão, Arnaud Bertrand and Sigrid
text
Nauplius
2017
e 2017007
25
1
4
https://doi.org/10.1590/2358-2936e2017007
journal article
10.1590/2358-2936e2017007
2358-2936
14666345
Megacalanus princeps
Wolfenden, 1904
(Fig. 1)
Material examined
.
1 Male
[Total length (TL)
9.9 mm
], Rocas Atoll, #ST-14, Leg. 1 water column,
510 m
depth, initial coordinate tow:
03°58’S
34°03’W
,
final coordinate tow:
03°57’S
34°04’W
,
6 October 2015
,
MOUFPE 15581
.
1 female
(TL
9.21 mm
) and
1 male
(TL
10.31 mm
), Rocas Atoll, #ST-22/Leg. 1 water column,
525 m
depth, initial coordinate tow:
04°07’S
33°47’W
,
final coordinate tow:
4°07’S
33°48’W
,
8 October 2015
,
MOUFPE 15658
.
Distribution
(Fig. 2). West Atlantic Ocean:
Greenland
,
Iceland
(W),
Canada
(Newfoundland),
USA
(Woods Hole, New Scotia, Carolinas,
Florida
),
Bermudas
(
32°10’N
64°30’W
), Sargasso Sea, Gulf of Mexico,
Dominican Republic
, Caribbean Sea,
Brazil
(
Rio Grande do Norte
: Rocas Atoll), Antarctic (Drake passage). East Atlantic Ocean: Faroe Island,
Ireland
(S & W),
Spain
(Bay of Biscay, Cape Finisterre, Canary Island),
Portugal
(
Azores
,
Madeira Islands
), Mediterranean Sea (Ligurian Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Gulf of Gabès, Ionian Sea, Alexandria), Ibero-moroccan Bay,
Morocco
, Mauritania-NW,
Cape Verde Island
,
São Tomé Island
,
Angola
,
Saint Helena Island
,
South Africa
. Indian Ocean: Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal. Indonesia-
Malaysia
. West Pacific Ocean:
Japan
(
Hokkaido
),
China
,
Taiwan
,
Philippines
,
New Caledonia
,
New Zealand
, SubAntarctic (SW & SE Pacific). East Pacific Ocean:
USA
(Gulf of
Alaska
, Saint Paul Island,
California
,
Hawaii
),
Canada
(
British Columbia
),
Peru
(San Lorenzo Island),
Chile
(Juan Fernandez Island) (
Gueredrat, 1969
;
Hsiao
et al
., 2004
;
Razouls
et al
., 2005
–2016; this study).
Bathymetric distribution
. The specimens examined were found at a depth of
525 m
, in accordance with
Miller (2002)
and
Hsiao
et al
. (2004)
, but their occurrence is usually between
300–2000 m
.
Remarks
. The specimens examined presented the same characteristics than those reported by
Wolfenden (1904)
. Segmentation and setation patterns from swimming legs and maxilla were the same of that observed by
Bradford-Grieve (1994)
. Also, the proportional length of urosomites and furca was different than the one found by
Tanaka (1956)
; which found a proportional length from 41:20:15:7:17, while we found 33:23:13:8:23, indicating a small morphological variation, when compared with specimens collected in the Pacific Ocean. The specimens have long rostral filaments as observed by
Sars (1924)
and
Tanaka (1956)
. Finally, as observed by
Miller (2002)
, the specimens found here presented a cephalic crest; this characteristic was only found before in specimens collected in deep waters off Southern California.Probably due to the low sampling effort, scarcity in meso-bathypelagic collections and the increasing of deeper waters studies in
Brazil
, the spatial distribution of
M. princeps
was not known in this region. The occurrence of
M. princeps
in Brazilian waters expands its world distribution and increases the knowledge about zooplankton species from south Atlantic deep waters.