Amphiura otteri Ljungman, 1872

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 : 21

Amphiura otteri Ljungman, 1872

Reports for the Azores:

Amphiura otteri Ljungman, 1872 — $ Lyman 1882: 128; $ H.L. Clark 1915: 230; Mortensen 1927a: 209; Paterson 1985: 86–87, fig. 33; García-Diez et al. 2005: 49; Smirnov et al. 2014: 200;

Amphiura grandis Koehler, 1906b: 277–278 ; $ Koehler 1909: 175–177, pl. 27, figs. 3–4; Mortensen 1927a: 208–209.

Type locality: Portugal .

See: Ljungman (1872: 631–632); Paterson (1985); Benavides-Serrato et al. (2011: 291).

Occurrence: North Atlantic, in the west from Labrador Basin to Caribbean Sea ( Paterson 1985) and in the east from Iceland ( Mortensen 1933a) to the West African coasts, including the Azores ( Koehler 1906b, 1909).

Depth: 198– 3,200 m ( Smirnov et al. 2014); AZO: 1,647 –1,900 m ( Lyman 1882, Koehler 1909).

Habitat: soft sediments, mud to ooze ( Lyman 1882).

Remarks: in the first report of Amphiura otteri from the archipelago, Lyman (1882) regarded this species as doubtful. H.L. Clark (1915) re-examined Lyman's specimens and confirmed his identification. Koehler (1896b, 1909) described Amphiura grandis , based on specimens collected by Princesse Alice in the Bay of Biscay and in the Azores (sta 1334: 39°30’N, 29°02’15”W), a species later synonymised with A. otteri by Paterson (1985). Additionally, A. otteri was reported also from the archipelagos of Canary Islands and Cape Verde (e.g., Koehler 1909; Mortensen 1927a; Paterson 1985). However, these reports seem to be based directly or indirectly on the material collected by Talisman . At the time, Koehler (1906b, as Amphiura grandis ) recorded the location of the stations using a system of coordinates based on the Paris Meridian. When converting the longitudes to the Greenwich Meridian, it is clear that the reported material came from waters off the coast of NW of Africa, outside the Canaries and Cape Verde waters.