SHORT COMMUNICATION Preservation of the larval ctenophore

Mnemiopsis leidyi larvae were preserved quantitatively for up to 1 year in 5–20 % acid Lugol’s solution. The highest preservation efficiency and least shrinkage and deformation occurred in the 5 % treatment. Gelatinous zooplankton taxa are difficult to collect and preserve, a situation that has bedeviled quantitative studies of these organisms and probably produced underestimates of their numerical abundance and func-tional importance in pelagic ecosystems (Harbison et al., 1978). Most hydrozoan and scyphozoan medusae are preserved well in standard formaldehyde and ethanol formulations, but with the exception of Pleurobrachia spp., ctenophores are notably difficult to preserve (de Lafontaine and Leggett, 1989; Mutlu, 1995; Thibault-Botha and Bowen, 2004). Mnemiopsis leidyi is collected intact by gentle net tows, but problems wit