Ophiocentrus novaezelandiae Gislén, 1926

(Fig. 6)

Amphiocnida pilosa.—Mortensen, 1924: 154–157, fig. 27(1–8) [Non Ophiocentrus pilosus (Lyman T, 1879); see Gislén, 1926].

Ophiocentrus novaezelandiae Gislén, 1926: 13.—Fell, 1958: 28.

Ophiocentrus novae-zelandiae.—Mortensen, 1936: 287-288.—Fell, 1952: 23.

Material Examined. Bay of Islands. TAN0906/2, NIWA 54394 (1). TAN0906/90, NIWA 55578 (2). TAN0906/ 232, NIWA 57322 (1). Marlborough Sounds. TAN1105/147, NIWA 77912 (2). Three Kings Islands. TAN1105/ 35, NIWA 77908 (1). West Coast North Island. TAN1105/78, NIWA 73620 (1). TAN1105/80, NIWA 73641 (1).

Diagnosis. Even cover of spines on dorsal and ventral disc plates. 6–10 modified arm spines (see remarks on various morphological forms below). Large tentacle pores with no scale.

Description. See Mortensen (1924).

Distribution. New Zealand (1–275 m).

Remarks. At least three morphological forms were found amongst the examined material, one similar to Ophiocentrus verticillatus (Döderlein, 1896), with 9–10 paddle-shaped arm spines, and a triangular shaped distal oral papilla, another form similar to Philippine species Ophiocentrus aspera (Koehler, 1905), which has 6–7 arm spines with the middle spines modified into hooks. The third morphological group has 6–7 simple pointed arm spines with variation in the appearance of the disc spines, and match descriptions of specimens contained within Ophiocentrus pilosa (Lyman, 1879) according to Mortensen (1924) and later referred to O. novaezelandiae by Clark (1966).

There is a high level of individual variation in Ophiocentrus specimens, which adds to the difficulty of finding reliable distinguishing characters (Mortensen 1924). The New Zealand diversity of Ophiocentrus species is potentially as high as in tropical areas, but we are reluctant to separate these specimens until a wider review of the Amphiuridae including genetic data is completed. A similar situation exists for south-east Australian specimens (O'Hara 1998).