RADIOLARIOS (PROTOZOA, ACTINOPODA) SEDIMENTADOS EN EL PUERTO DE CALDERA (27°04' S; 70°51' W), CHILE

the radiolaria is a group of marine, holoplanktonic, siliceous protozoa whose disregard is manifest in chilean waters. the present work an constitutes a preliminary inventory and a descption of radiolarian species retrieved from 14 sediment samples collected from the caldera port, chile. the total number of species found in samples studied was 30, distributed in 24 genera, 8 families (actinommidae, collosphaeridae, litheliidae, phacodiscidae, pterocorythidae, spongodiscidae, theoperidae and tholoniidae) and 2 orders (spumellaria and nassellaria). the scarcity of biological knowledge, zoogeographic and taxonomics of the chilean radiolaria impede, at the moment, to use these organisms as hydrological indicators of oceanic events in the southeastern pacific ocean