Abstract

An isopod of the family Aegidae. provisionally referred to as Rocinela aff. australis Schicedte & Meinert. 1879, is reported from the Patagonian tootfish Dissostichus eleginoides Smitt, 1898, from off the Biobio region, Chile. One specimen was collected, its body suboval. symmetrical, the dorsum weakly vaulted, stout, and with a few pits on the body. The specimen collected clearly belongs to the genus Rocinela and within that genus would most closely resemble Rocinela australis, but its actual specific status, whether an established species of the genus (and if so, which one) or possibly proving to be an as yet undescribed species, will have to await close examination by a specialist in marine isopod taxonomy. For the time being, we refer to the specimen as "Rocinela aff. australis", since, compared with existing Rocinela spp.. it matches best with that species both in general morphology and in geographical occurrence. This species, then, was reported until now only for the Strait of Magellan, Magellan region, and the southern Argentinean Atlantic coast. Thus, if the specimen would prove to really belong to Rocinela australis, then this report would constitute the most northern record of that species.