Ophiura albida Forbes, 1839

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 52-53

Ophiura albida Forbes, 1839

Reports for the Azores:

Ophioglypha albida ( Forbes, 1839) — $ Lyman 1869: 319; $ Ljungman 1872: 620; $ Barrois 1888: 72, 133; Ophiura albida Forbes, 1839 — $ H.L. Clark 1915: 318; Mortensen 1927a: 239–240, figs. 128.5–6; Nobre 1938: 91; Tortonese 1965: 272–274, figs. 99B, 125; Moyse & Tyler 1995: 673, fig. 12.6; Pereira 1997: 332–333; Micael & Costa 2010: 322; Micael et al. 2012: 3.

Type locality: Irish waters. See: Forbes (1839: 125–126, pl. 4, figs. 5–6); Mortensen (1927a); Paterson (1985: 118, Table 3).

Occurrence: Mediterranean Sea and Northeast Atlantic; from Iceland to Portugal, including the Azores ( Tortonese 1965).

Depth: 2– 1,030 m ( Tyler et al. 2005, Koukouras et al. 2007); AZO: 20–458 m ( Ljungman 1872, Barrois 1888).

Habitat: gravel, muddy sand or on silty areas between rocks ( Tyler et al. 2005, Koukouras et al. 2007).

Larval stage: planktotrophic ( Mortensen 1927a).

Remarks: historically, O. albida is known in the Azores by relatively few records. It was first collected by Josephine expedition in Ponta Delgada (S„o Miguel Island) at 274–458 m depth. This material was examined by Lyman (1869), Ljungman (1872) and later by H.L. Clark (1915). Barrois (1888) also reported this species in the same area, but at much shallower depths, about 20 to 25 m. The scarcity of records could be explained by the species preferred habitat in the archipelago. This ophiuroid appears to live mainly on soft bottoms at depths between 20 and 458 m. Soft-bottom environments were extensively sampled by oceanographic cruises in the archipelago, but rarely at depths shallower than 500 m.