First report of Craspedacusta sowerbii (Cnidaria) (Lankester, 1880) for Patagonian waters (38° S, Chile): a possible presence of invasive species and its potential ecological implications

2008). This species is an active zoo-plankton predator, and its prey consists mainly of small microcrustaceans and rotiters (Jankowski, 2004). This species is distributed across South American tropical and subtropical latitudes (Jankowski, 2001; Silva and Roche, 2007). It was reported for the first time for Chilean in-land waters lagoons in the Valparaiso region (Silva and Roche, 2007), and other zones in central Chile, but there are not geographic details about its occurrence (Dumont, 1994). On an ecological note, this zone has numerous small mesotrophic and eutrophic lagoons located in agri-cultural zones (Schmid-Araya and Zuniga 1992).Zooplankton samples and jellyfish were collected in Carilafquen lagoon (39° 00’ 41.4’’ S and 72° 08’ 50.8’’ W; Araucania region, Chile), and the jellyfish specimens were identified in accordance with the descriptions of Jankowski (2001). The zooplankton samples were ex-amined under the microscope, but specimens were not found. These results would agree with descriptions in the literature about the predatory activity of this species on zooplankton (von Wieser, 1993; Jankowski, 2001; Silva and Roche, 2007). From a biogeographic viewpoint, this species was reported originally for the Valparaiso region, and this report is probably the most southern report of this species (Silva and Roche, 2007). The cause of this new report was probably an invasive event, because this species has undergone notorious dispersion during the 20