Dytaster grandis grandis (Verrill, 1884)

Reports for the Azores:

Dytaster biserialis $ Sladen, 1889: 77–79, pl. 13, figs. 3, 4; Perrier 1894: 299; Mortensen 1927a: 54;

Dytaster agassizi Perrier, 1894 — $ Koehler 1909: 22, pl. 4, fig. 7, pl. 6, fig. 1; Mortensen 1927a: 55; Cherbonnier & Sibuet 1972: 377; Sibuet 1975: 101;

Dytaster rigidus Perrier, 1894 — $ Koehler 1909: 25, pl. 3, fig. 6; Mortensen 1927a: 55;

Dytaster grandis grandis (Verrill, 1884) —A.M. Clark & Downey 1992: 53, figs. 13a–c, pl. 15, figs. A, B; García-Diez et al. 2005: 46; $ Dilman 2008: 132–134;

Dytaster grandis (Verrill, 1884) — Dilman 2013: 566, 2014: 26.

Type locality: east coast of USA (from Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia) .

See: A.M. Clark & Downey (1992).

Occurrence: North Atlantic, in the west, from the US east coast to the Gulf of Mexico (A.M. Clark & Downey 1992); in the east it is reported from the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (SW of Ireland; Howell et al. 2003) and the Bay of Biscay (Cherbonnier & Sibuet 1972) to SW Africa (Sibuet 1975), along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from the Charlie- Gibbs Fracture Zone to the Azores (Dilman 2008). The subspecies D. grandis nobilis Sladen, 1889 is restricted to the Southwest Atlantic (A.M. Clark & Downey 1992).

Depth: 1,000 –5,124 m (Dilman 2014); AZO: 2,954 –5,005 m (Koehler 1909, Dilman 2008).

Habitat: soft sediments, from mud to ooze; predator (e.g., on other echinoderms) and scavenger, ingesting sediment (Howell et al. 2003).

Larval stage: planktotrophic (Tyler et al. 1990).

Remarks: when revising Dytaster from the Atlantic, A.M. Clark & Downey (1992) reunite the following records from the Azores under the name Dytaster grandis grandis: D. biserialis described by Sladen (1889) on the basis of material collected by H.M.S. Challenger (sta 79: 36°21’N, 23°31’W, 3,706 m), D. agassizi and D. rigidus both reported by Koehler (1909) based on specimens collected by Princesse Alice.