In bathyal sand bottoms, the associated fauna shares many components with the
abovementioned offshore gravels and with the more fully muddy bottoms and often
constitute a transition between both. The sponge Thenea muricata; the molluscs
Callumbonella suturalis, Euspira fusca and Parvicardium minimum; the crustaceans
Parapenaeus longirostris, Solenocera membranacea, Plesionika edwardsii,
Philocheras echinulatus, Processa nouveli and Ergasticus clouei; as well as the
echinoderms Ophiura ophiura, Ophiocten abyssicolum, Luidia sarsii,
Fig. 9.22 (a) A dense aggregation of the crinoid Leptometra phalangium and the sea pen
Kophobelemnon stelliferum on Djibouti Banks. Characteristic animals of bathyal soft bottoms of
Seco de los Olivos are (b) the sea pen Pennatula aculeata, (c) the bamboo coral Isidella elongata,
with the snail Aporrhais serresiana on the mud, (d) the sea cucumber Mesothuria intestinalis and
(e) the Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus, the latter a target species of the bottom trawling
fleet [OCEANA]
340
J. L. Rueda et al.
abovementioned offshore gravels and with the more fully muddy bottoms and often
constitute a transition between both. The sponge Thenea muricata; the molluscs
Callumbonella suturalis, Euspira fusca and Parvicardium minimum; the crustaceans
Parapenaeus longirostris, Solenocera membranacea, Plesionika edwardsii,
Philocheras echinulatus, Processa nouveli and Ergasticus clouei; as well as the
echinoderms Ophiura ophiura, Ophiocten abyssicolum, Luidia sarsii,
Fig. 9.22 (a) A dense aggregation of the crinoid Leptometra phalangium and the sea pen
Kophobelemnon stelliferum on Djibouti Banks. Characteristic animals of bathyal soft bottoms of
Seco de los Olivos are (b) the sea pen Pennatula aculeata, (c) the bamboo coral Isidella elongata,
with the snail Aporrhais serresiana on the mud, (d) the sea cucumber Mesothuria intestinalis and
(e) the Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus, the latter a target species of the bottom trawling
fleet [OCEANA]
340
J. L. Rueda et al.
