Ophioctenella acies Tyler et al. 1995

Ophioctenella acies Tyler et al., 1995 Reports for the Azores: Ophioctenella acies Tyler et al. 1995 — $ St̂hr & Segonzac 2005: 395–396, figs. 2, 7. Type locality: Mid-Atlantic Ridge. See: Tyler et al. (1995); St̂hr & Segonzac (2005); Desbruyères et al. (2006: 483, figs. 1–3). Occurrence: Atlantic, along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from Lucky Strike (SW Azores, c. 37°17’N, 32°16’W) south to Snake Pit (23°22’N, 44°56’W), westwards from Blake Plateau and Florida Escarpment to south of Barbados. Depth: 1,626 –3,650 m (Desbruyères et al. 2006), though it seems to reach higher densities at depths greater than 3,000 m (St̂hr & Segonzac 2005); AZO: 1,626 –1,727 m (St̂hr & Segonzac 2005). Habitat: restricted to chemosynthetic areas, found at hydrothermal vents and methane cold seeps, usually in association with deep-sea mytilid beds (St̂hr & Segonzac 2005). Larval stage: probable planktotrophic (St̂hr & Segonzac 2005). Remarks: Ophioctenella acies appears to be the only echinoderm species restricted to active vent sites known to occur in the Azores. In one of the few echinoderm studies from deep-sea reducing environments in the North Atlantic, St̂hr & Segonzac (2005) identify several animals of O. acies from Lucky Strike, but found this species conspicuously absent from hydrothermal vents of Menez Gwen.
Published as part of Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), pp. 1-231 in Zootaxa 4639 (1) on page 52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4639.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3342161
{"references":["Tyler, P. A., Paterson, G. J. L., Sibuet, M., Guille, A., Murtons, B. J. & Segonzac, M. (1995) A new genus of ophiuroid (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from hydrothermal mounds along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 75, 977 - 986. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0025315400038303","St ˆ hr, S. & Segonzac, M. (2005) Deep-sea ophiuroids (Echinodermata) from reducing and non-reducing environments in the North Atlantic Ocean. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 85 (2), 383 - 402. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0025315405011318 h","Desbruyeres, D. l., Segonzac, M. & Bright, M. (2006) Handbook of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Fauna. Second Edition. Denisia, 18, 1 - 544."]}