Ophiacantha abyssicola Sars, 1872

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 32-33

Ophiacantha abyssicola Sars, 1872

Reports for the Azores:

Ophiacantha abyssicola Sars, 1872 — $ Koehler 1909: 182; Farran 1913: 38–39, fig. 9d; Mortensen 1927a: 194, figs. 105.5–6; Grieg 1932: 37; García-Diez et al. 2005: 49.

Type locality: Norway .

See: Sars (1872: 8–10); Paterson (1985: 47–48, fig. 20).

Occurrence: North Atlantic, Northeast American coast, north of Cape Hatteras to Greenland and Iceland, eastwards to Scandinavia, southwards to the Western Sahara ( Paterson (1985), including the Azores ( Koehler 1909), Madeira ( Jesus & Abreu (1998), Canaries ( Madsen 1970), and the Atlantis Seamount (A.H. Clark 1949) .

Depth: 35– 3,500 m ( Mortensen (1927a), an upper bathyal species that may occur in shallow waters at higher latitudes, such as the Norwegian Sea ( Gage et al. 1983); AZO: 880 m ( Koehler 1909).

Habitat: rock, coral, mud to gravel and detritic substrates ( Farran 1913; Cherbonnier 1969, 1970); it can form dense beds ( Metaxas & Giffin 2004).

Remarks: the record of Ophiacantha abyssicola in the Azores is based on a single small specimen collected by Princesse Alice (sta 837: 37°55’N, 25°24’15”W, 880 m) and identified by Koehler (1909).