Ophiura ljungmani (Lyman, 1878)

Reports for the Azores:

Ophioglypha lepida $ Lyman, 1878: 70–71, pl. 3, figs. 71–73, 1882: 43–44, pl. 4, figs. 1–3; Ophioglypha ljungmanni Lyman, 1878 — $ Koehler 1909: 152, 1921a: 3; Ophioglypha thouleti Koehler, 1895 c— $ Koehler 1909: 158–159, pl. 6, fig. 6; pl. 26, figs. 1–2; Ophiura ljungmani (Lyman, 1878) — Mortensen 1927a: 240–242, fig. 130; $ Paterson 1985: 118–120, fig. 44; Borges et al. 2002:

27–31, figs. 15a–c, 16a–f, 17a–d, 18a–c; García-Diez et al. 2005: 49; $ St̂hr & Segonzac 2005: 386; Hernández-Herrejon et al. 2008: 101–102, figs. 3E–F; $ Martynov & Litvinova 2008: 80, fig. 1D; Smirnov et al. 2014: 205; Ophiura lepida (Lyman, 1878) — Mortensen 1927a: 234.

Type locality: Brazil (09°07’S, 34°50’W) .

See: Mortensen (1933a: 83–84); Paterson (1985); Borges et al. (2002).

Occurrence: Atlantic, from Labrador Basin to Brazil, eastwards from Iceland to southern Africa (Paterson 1985), including the Azores, Madeira (Koehler 1909), Canaries (Koehler 1906b) and Ascension Island (Lyman 1882).

Depth: 101– 6,398 m (Smirnov et al. 2014); AZO: 789– 2,968 m (St̂hr & Segonzac 2005, Martynov & Litvinova 2008).

Habitat: mainly soft bottoms, coralligenous sand, mud to ooze (Koehler 1909, Lyman 1883); can form large aggregations (Borges et al. 2002).

Larval stage: planktotrophic (Schoener 1972).

Remarks: Ophiura ljungmani was reported from the Azorean waters under three different names: Ophioglypha lepida by Lyman (1878, 1882; H.M.S. Challenger), Ophioglypha ljungmanni and Ophioglypha thouleti both by Koehler (1909, 1921a; Princesse Alice). Later, Koehler (1914a) found O. thouleti to be identical with Lyman’s O. ljungmanni . In turn, Mortensen (1933a) found the diagnosing characters that separate O. lepida from O. ljungmani mostly size related and established the synonymy.