Ophiocten affinis? (Lütken, 1858)

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 : 51

Ophiocten affinis? (Lütken, 1858)

Reports for the Azores:

Ophioglypha affinis Lyman—? $ Simroth 1888: 231;

Ophiura affinis ( L̹tken 1858)— Pereira 1997: 333;

Ophiocten affinis ( L̹tken, 1858)— Micael & Costa 2010: 322; Micael et al. 2012: 3.

Type locality: Norway .

See: L̹tken (1858: 45–46, pl. 2, figs. 10a–b, as Ophiura affinis ); Mortensen (1927a: 244–245, figs. 132, as Ophiura affinis ); Sumida et al. (1998: 282–285, 295–297, fig. 9).

Occurrence: North Atlantic, from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland ( Theroux & Wigley 1998), eastwards from Iceland, Faroe, Scandinavian and British waters ( Mortensen (1927a, 1933a), along the European Shelf ( Cherbonnier 1969) south to Cape Bojador ( Grieg 1932), the?Azores ( Simroth 1888) and Madeira ( Jesus & Abreu 1998); the subspecies O. affinis simulans can be found in South Africa ( Mortensen 1936).

Depth: 8–550 m ( Mortensen 1927a).

Habitat: soft substrates, silt, sand, shingle to silt covered rocks ( Grieg 1932, Picton 1993).

Larval stage: lecithotrophic ( Fell 1945).

Remarks: the presence of Ophiocten affinis in the Azores is based on a single record by Simroth (1888). However, no additional information was given by the author and there is no trace where the specimen could be housed (or later reviewed). The presence of this species in the archipelago should be considered with caution, until new material collected in the area can corroborate this historical record.