Erika Meerhoff

• Biodiversity Journal, 7 (1): 007-010

  Erika Meerhoff, David Veliz, Caren Vega-Retter & Beatriz Yannicelli
  The amphioxus Epigonichthys maldivensis (Forster Cooper, 1903) (Cephalochordata Branchiostomatidae) larvae in the plankton from Rapa Nui (Chile) and ecological implications

  ABSTRACT
  We report the first record of amphioxus larvae in the plankton from Rapa Nui island (Chile). Zooplankton was sampled using an oblique Bongo net during an oceanograhic survey in April and September 2015. A total of four larvae were collected in the coastal area of Rapa Nui in April and 13 in September. The larvae were identified as Epigonichthys maldivensis (Forster Cooper, 1903) (Cephalochordata Branchiostomatidae) using both morphological and genetic characters. The water column in this area presented a mean temperature of 21.2 °C, a mean salinity of 35.7% and 4.94 ml/L dissolved oxygen in April, and 20 °C and 35.75% mean salinity in September. Amphioxus have been reported as playing a key role in marine food webs transferring important amounts of microbial production to higher trophic levels, due to this their role in the Rapa Nui plankton and benthos as adults could be interesting because Easter island is located in the oligotrophic gyre of the South Pacific ocean where a microbial trophic web is expected to dominate. This record increases the biodiversity of Rapa Nui plankton and widens the geographic distribution of E. maldivensis that was restricted only to the Western and Central Pacific and Indian Ocean.

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