Family XANTHIDAE MacLeay, 1838

The Xanthidae is a broad family, which according to Davie et al. (2015c), includes 129 genera and 629 species. Thirty of these genera are present in waters of Southern Africa (Serène 1984; Ng et al. 2008; Poupin 2010). The majority of xanthid species inhabit intertidal areas (Guinot & Macpherson 1988) and only two species have been cited by Emmerson (2016c) in waters deeper than 100m, Actaea savignii (H. Milne Edwards) and Gaillardiellus rueppelli (Krauss) .