New records of marine eels ( Teleostei : Anguilliformes ) from Brazilian waters

Two species of different families belonging to the order Anguilliformes have their ranges extended in the southwestern Atlantic: the chlopsid Chlopsis dentatus (Seale, 1917) from Rio de Janeiro and the muraenid Gymnothorax maderensis (Johnson, 1862) from Bahia. The new records extend the distribution of these species south along the Brazilian coastline. Morphometric data of the specimens are provided and compared to data from the literature.

Deepsea research off Brazil has been sparse, but recent exploratory fishing efforts have resulted in several new records, range extensions, and descriptions of new spe cies from the southwestern Atlantic (e.g., Bernardes et al. 2005;Mincarone et al. 2008;CarvalhoFilho et al. 2009CarvalhoFilho et al. , 2010CarvalhoFilho et al. , 2011)).Several of these records are of the results of a research project by the Projeto TAMAR (Projeto Tar taruga Marinha, the Brazilian environmental institution that protects and study the sea turtles) team, which aims to evaluate the efficiency of the circle hook in pelagic and bottom longline fisheries (CarvalhoFilho et al. 2009).In this paper, we provide new records for two anguilliform species in the southwestern Atlantic: the chlopsid Chlopsis dentatus (Seale, 1917), extending its range southwards to Rio de Janeiro state; and the muraenid Gymnothorax maderensis (Johnson, 1862), extending its range to Bahia and Espírito Santo states.
The specimen of Chlopsis dentatus was collected in 2010 by a survey team dredging rhodolith banks off the Rio de Janeiro coast.Two specimens of Gymnothorax maderensis were collected in 2012 by the deepsea fishing exploratory crew of the TAMAR Project off Bahia.The specimens were fixed in formalin, preserved in ethanol 70%, and deposited at MZUSP collection.Another seven specimens of G. maderensis that we studied were also collected from Bahia, by the Programa de Avaliação do Potencial Sustentável de Recursos Vivos na Zona Econômica Exclusiva (REVIZEE); these are deposited at MNRJ collection.Measurements were taken with a digital caliper to tenths of millimeters (mm); measurements between 150 mm and 300 mm were taken with a manual caliper to the nearest tenth of mm; over 300 mm with a ruler to the nearest tenth of mm.Length of specimens are given in total length (TL) and head length is abbreviated as HL.Institutional abbreviations follow SabajPérez (2014).Systematics of Anguilliformes follows Betancur et al. (2014).
Morphometric data are given in Table 1.The Chlopsidae are small eels, not longer than 30 cm, with stout to mod erately elongate, compressed body with the anus slightly before midbody.The genus Chlopsis is characterized by the absence of pectoral fins; origin of the dorsal fin over or slightly behind gill opening, rictus near posterior margin of eye; anterior nostril tubular, near tip of snout; presence of two series of vomerine teeth; and the lower lip without a downturned flange.Chlopsis dentatus is distinguished from all its congeners by its banded mottled color pat tern.All other species known to date are bicolored to some degree.Chlopsis bicolor Rafinesque, 1810 from the Western Atlantic presents a sharply defined bicolored pattern, and C. dentatus also differs by the position of the origin of the dorsal fin, distinctly behind the gill opening in C. bicolor and slightly behind the gill opening in C. dentatus.The only East ern Atlantic species, C. olokun (Robins & Robins, 1966), is a pale, uniformly tancolored species with white belly, where the bicolored effect is weakly developed.Furthermore, it has the dorsal fin origin located above the gill opening.Our specimen agrees with the diagnostic and specific characters of C. dentatus and has the same coloration as described by Seale (1917), Böhlke &Smith (1968), andSmith (1989a).The snout length presented by Smith (1989a) seems to be not accurate (12-14% of head length) when compared to Böhlke & Smith (1968).The identification of the species follows Seale (1917), Robins & Robins (1967), Böhlke and Smith (1968), Blache (1972), Smith (1989aSmith ( , 1989bSmith ( , 2016a)), Tighe &McCosker (2003), andBonecker et al. (2014).Gymnothorax maderensis (Johnson, 1862) (Figure 2).Sharktooth Moray (English); Moréiadamadeira, moreão amarelo (Portugal Portuguese); moréia portuguesa (Brazilian Portuguese); morena verde (Spanish).
Morphometric data are given in Table 2.The muraenid body is elongate, muscular, and laterally compressed; dorsal profile of head, above and behind eye, often raised due to strong head muscles; anterior nostril tubular, near snout tip, poste rior nostril above or before eye, a simple pore or in a tube.The genus Gymnothorax presents the dorsal fin originating above and before the anus, the absence of molarifom teeth, jaws not prominently arched, teeth usually not exposed when mouth is closed; posterior nostril not in the shape of a tube; and gill opening usually the same color of body.Gymnothorax  that gives an overall bright limegreen color to live specimens (Figure 2C; see also a photograph of recent collected specimen in Williams et al. 2010).This coating easily disappears from the epidermis of specimens when handled.When this coat ing is removed, specimens are brownish overall, with some greenish and yellowish tinges on head, light yellow on tail, and minute, numerous, pale dots and/or vermiculation from upper head to tip of tail, more spaced posteriorly.There are maderensis can be separated from all other Atlantic congeners, except Gymnothorax bacalladoi Bohlke & Brito, 1987, by the presence of serrate edges of the large triangular teeth (Figure 2D); from G. bacalladoi, it differs by the uniserial maxillary teeth, usually two branchial pores, and 149-158 vertebrae (versus biserial maxillary teeth, usually one branchial pore and 130-131 vertebrae).Both specimens collected by the TAMAR team from Bahia were covered by a limegreen slime  a few dark, short, undulating lines present on underparts of head and anterior trunk.Fins are paleedged.After preserva tion, the overall color becomes light tan to yellowish or dark brown, with the pale marks less evident but still well visible.
Previous occurrences of C. dentatus in Brazilian waters were reported by Bonecker et al. (2014), based only on leptocephali specimens from the same area of the adult recorded here, and by Menezes (2003) based on the above cited MCZ voucher (Ichthyology 100332).Thus, we report the occurrence of an adult C. dentatus in the southwestern Atlantic (Figure 3) which, along with the leptocephalus reported by Bonecker et al. (2014), extends the range of the species by ca.3,300 km southwards along the Brazilian coast, from the previously reported southernmost occurrence locality (off Brazil, MCZ voucher as above).
Gymnothorax maderensis also has a broad range and was previously known in the Eastern Atlantic from Madeira, Cabo Verde, and Canary islands, and Gulf of Guinea (Dooley et al. 1985;Böhlke et al. 1989).In the Western Atlantic it is known from Bermuda, North Carolina to Flor ida (USA), and the Caribbean region (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Saba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) (Williams et al. 2010;SmithVaniz & Jelks 2014;Robertson & Van Tassel 2015;Smith & McCosk er 2015).Records from Brazil are from Bahia and Espírito Santo states, as presented by Martins et al. (2005), Olavo et al. (2007, 2011), and Pinheiro et al. (2015).However, these authors do not present vouchers or details about the records, and thus, our work has significance in being the first vouchered occurrence data for this species in Brazil.Ignoring previous, unvouchered records, the range of this uncommon species in the Western Atlantic is extended by ca.6,200 km from the previously reported southernmost occurrence (Bonaire and Curaçao) (Figure 4).

Table 1 .
Morphometric data for Chlopsis dentatus, with source and number of specimens.

Table 2 .
Morphometric data for Gymnothorax maderensis, with source and number of specimens.