Resumen de Deep-Water Ophiuroids (Echinodermata) Associated with Anthozoans and Hexactinellid Sponges from Northern Chile

Cynthia Lara de Castro Manso, Jéssica Prata, Juan Francisco Araya

• Associations between ophiuroids and sponges or corals are common and well studied among shallow water species. In deep-water communities, such relationships are more difficult to observe because of the difficulty in sampling by traditional methods. In this work, five species of ophiuroids attached to corals and sponges, obtained as bycatch in commercial fishing vessels, were identified. Of the species living on corals, Asteroschema sp. was collected for the first time on the Chilean coast. Of the species from sponges, Ophiacanthella acontophora (Clark, 1911) has its first record for the Southern Hemisphere, and Histampica rugosa H.L. Clark, 1941 has the first record for the southeastern Pacific Ocean