Ophiacantha abyssicola Sars, 1872

Reports for the Azores:

Ophiacantha abyssicola Sars, 1872 — $ Koehler 1909: 182; Farran 1913: 38–39, fig. 9d; Mortensen 1927a: 194, figs. 105.5–6; Grieg 1932: 37; García-Diez et al. 2005: 49.

Type locality: Norway .

See: Sars (1872: 8–10); Paterson (1985: 47–48, fig. 20).

Occurrence: North Atlantic, Northeast American coast, north of Cape Hatteras to Greenland and Iceland, eastwards to Scandinavia, southwards to the Western Sahara (Paterson (1985), including the Azores (Koehler 1909), Madeira (Jesus & Abreu (1998), Canaries (Madsen 1970), and the Atlantis Seamount (A.H. Clark 1949) .

Depth: 35– 3,500 m (Mortensen (1927a), an upper bathyal species that may occur in shallow waters at higher latitudes, such as the Norwegian Sea (Gage et al. 1983); AZO: 880 m (Koehler 1909).

Habitat: rock, coral, mud to gravel and detritic substrates (Farran 1913; Cherbonnier 1969, 1970); it can form dense beds (Metaxas & Giffin 2004).

Remarks: the record of Ophiacantha abyssicola in the Azores is based on a single small specimen collected by Princesse Alice (sta 837: 37°55’N, 25°24’15”W, 880 m) and identified by Koehler (1909).