Occurrence of the driftfish Nomeus gronovii (Scombriformes: Stromateoidei: Nomeidae) in the sandy beach surf zone of southern Brazil

Abstract

We record a single juvenile specimen of a driftfish, Nomeus gronovii (Gmelin, 1789), in a shallow surf zone in the southern Brazilian waters. This is the southernmost record of N. gronovii on the South Atlantic. The specimen was identified based on morphological characters that had been unintentionally recorded with a small underwater video camera. Although the species is usually found in symbiotic association with the Portuguese man-of-war, a species of Physalia (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa), siphonophores were not found as part of this record. This finding emphasizes therole citizen scientists play in the process of recording poorly-documented species, thus helping to increase their known distribution range.