Ophiopleura inermis

Ophiopleura inermis (Lyman, 1878) Reports for the Azores:

Ophiura aurantiaca (Verrill, 1882) — $ Koehler 1921a: 5;

Ophiopleura aurantiaca (Verrill, 1882) — Mortensen 1927a: 251–252, fig. 137, 1933a: 92–94, fig. 50;

Ophiopleura inermis (Lyman, 1878) — Gage et al. 1983: 295; Paterson 1985: 128, fig. 48; Martynov & Litvinova 2008: 82–83, fig. 3B.

Type locality: Off Tristan da Cunha Island.

See: Lyman (1878: 95–96, pl. 5, figs. 123–125, as Ophioglypha inermis); Paterson (1985).

Occurrence: Atlantic species, known from Greenland and Iceland south to off Martha’s Vineyard (Massachusetts) in the west and to the Bay of Biscay (Paterson 1985), the Azores (Koehler 1921a), Madeira (Jesus & Abreu 1998) and Canaries (Koehler 1909) in the east; also found in the south of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (Martynov & Litvinova 2008) and off Tristan da Cunha (Lyman 1878).

Depth: 150– 1,875 m (Gage et al. 1983, Paterson 1985); AZO: 1,740 m (Koehler 1921a).

Habitat: hard to soft sediments (Koehler 1909, Jesus & Fonseca 1999).

Remarks: Koehler (1921a) reported the only specimen of Ophiopleura aurantiaca (as Ophiura aurantiaca) known from the Azores waters (Hirondelle II, sta 3150: 38°01’N, 25°21’W, 1,740 m), a species later found to be conspecific with Ophiopleura inermis (Mortensen 1933a; Gage et al. 1983).