Ophiacantha anomala Sars 1872

Erroneous— Ophiacantha anomala Sars, 1872 Reports for the Azores:

Ophiacantha cuspidata Lyman, 1878 — Gage et al. 1983: 291; García-Diez et al. 2005: 49; Smirnov et al. 2014: 195–196.

Type locality: Norway.

See: Sars (1872: 12–15); Paterson (1985: 24–34, fig. 14, as Ophiacantha anomala; 41–42, fig. 18, as Ophiacantha cuspidata); St̂hr (2005: 551–552, figs. 4A–H); Martynov & Litvinova (2008: 96, figs. 7B–J).

Occurrence: Atlantic, from the east coast of the USA to Greenland eastwards from Iceland and Scandinavia as far south as Ascension Island (Koehler 1914a, Mortensen 1933a, Paterson 1885).

Depth: 140– 2,460 m (Paterson 1985).

Habitat: soft to hard substrates (Lyman 1882, Koehler 1909).

Larval stage: brooded within the gonads until postlarvae stage is reached (St̂hr 2005); adults are also known to be hermaphrodite (Mortensen 1936).

Remarks: Gage et al. (1983) mentioned the presence of Ophiacantha cuspidata in an area ‘off Azores’ (a species recently found to be conspecific with the North Atlantic O. anomala; see Martynov & Litvinova 2008). Gage and co-authors were probably referring to Koehler (1909) who reported two specimens collected by Princesse Alice at a station located in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, just outside the Azorean EEZ (sta 1420: 42°52’N– 42°53’N, 28°30’45”W, 2,460 m). García-Diez et al. (2005) also erroneously placed this station within the 200 miles radius surrounding the archipelago, and thus included this species in their review of the Azorean fauna. Regardless of the widespread distribution in the North Atlantic, no material belonging to either O. cuspidata or O. anomala was yet documented inside the Azorean EEZ.