Ophiomyces frutectosus Lyman, 1869

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 : 44

Ophiomyces frutectosus Lyman, 1869

Reports for the Azores:

Ophiomyces frutectosus Lyman, 1869 — $ Ljungman 1872: 621; Barrois 1888: 32; Mortensen 1927a: 183.

Type locality: off Sand Key (Florida) .

See: Lyman (1869: 345–347); Paterson (1985: 75, fig. 31).

Occurrence: Caribbean species ( Paterson 1985), also reported from southern Brazil ( Borges et al. 2002), Azores and Josephine Seamount ( Ljungman 1872).

Depth: 50– 1,098 m ( AZO: 585– 1,098 m; Borges et al. 2002, Ljugman 1872) .

Habitat: soft substrates ( Lyman 1883).

Remarks: on describing Ophiomyces frutectosus, Lyman (1869) remarked that he also found two specimens belonging to this species among the material collected by the Josephine cruise in the Josephine Seamount. Later, Ljungman (1872) reported material of this species collected in S„o Miguel Island (Azores) by Josephine, at depths (585– 1,098 m) well below the species’ normal bathymetrical range (141–527 m; Lyman 1869, 1883).