A new species of the genus Ophiomyxa (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea: Ophiomyxidae) from the Mallorca Channel seamounts in thewestern Mediterranean

Abstract

[eng] A new species belonging to the ophiuroid genus Ophiomyxa is described from the Mallorca Channel seamount, in thewestern Mediterranean Sea. It can be distinguished from other Ophiomyxa species by the lack of interradial marginalplates, three arm spines, the presence of two thin, transparent and completely perforated dorsal arm plates on eacharm segment, the separate heptagonal ventral arm plates, the disk integument full of transparent rounded scales withscattered perforated ossicles, and a characteristic coloration of the disk, which in the living specimen is brown withabundant scattered bright white spots. Molecular analyses based on cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (DNA barcode)clearly support the assignment of the new species to Ophiomyxa. This discovery highlights the importance of the MallorcaChannel seamounts for the Mediterranean biodiversity conservation, as they seem to provide a suitable habitat for severalinvertebrate species, including recent descriptions of species and new Mediterranean records, which apparently have notestablished permanent populations along the closest continental margin.