Bathocyroe longigula spec. nov., an undescribed ctenophore (Lobata: Bathocyroidae) from the epipelagic fauna of Japanese coastal waters

This paper presents the description of a new lobate ctenophore, Bathocyroe longigula (order Lobata, family Bathocyroidae) based on two intact specimens. One was collected in April 2001 at the surface in coastal waters of Ise Bay near Toba on the Pacific coast of central Japan, and the other in March 2010 at the surface in Tabira port near Hirado in Kyushu, the main southern island of Japan. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners, Bathocyroe fosteri Madin & Harbison, 1978 and B. paragaster (Ralph & Kaberry, 1950), by its long stomodaeum with a narrow dark-orange band, which extends to about mid-length of the oral lobes, and the numerous tiny, dark-orange spots of irregular shape found along its meridional canals. The differences between the three species attributed to the genus Bathocyroe are shown in Table 1.