Ophiactis nidarosiensis? Mortensen, 1920

Reports for the Azores:

non Ophiactis hirta Lyman, 1879 —? $ Koehler 1909: 171 [misidentification].

Type locality: Trondhjemfjord, Norway .

See: Mortensen (1920: 60–63, fig. 5; 1933b: 346–347, fig. 58a).

Occurrence: recorded from the Scandinavia, Iceland, southern Africa, off Gough Island (Tristan da Cunha, S Atlantic) and?Azores (Mortensen 1920, 1933a, 1936).

Depth: 102–560 m (Mortensen 1933a, 1936); AZO:? 1,095 m (Koehler 1909).

Habitat:?volcanic sand (AZO; Koehler 1909).

Larval stage: unknown; also reproduces asexually through fission (Mortensen 1920).

Remarks: Koehler (1909) described a small six-armed specimen collected by Princesse Alice in Azorean waters (sta 1344: 38°45’30”N, 28°7’45”W, 1,095 m) as distinct from the type material of Ophiactis hirta collected by Lyman (1879, H.M.S. Challenger) in the Pacific, but not enough to consider it a different species. H.L. Clark (1918) suggested this specimen might represent a juvenile stage of Ophiactis abyssicola, a cosmopolitan deep-water species. Mortensen (1920, 1927) believed this specimen was actually O. nidarosiensis . Unfortunately, the specimen collected by Princesse Alice was lost (Mortensen 1920), and until new material is retrieved, the presence of either species in the archipelago should be considered as doubtful.