1968, which sampled the coast of Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Surinam and
French Guyana (Voss 1966; Bayer et al. 1970).
In 1998, a new era of research into of colombian echinoderms began, focusing
especially on mid-water (depth of 200 m) and deep-water (up to a depth of
1,000 m) echinoderms, as results of explorations carried out in the Colombian
Caribbean Sea: CIOH-INVEMAR-SMITHSONIAN, Macrofauna I-II, Macrofauna-CORPOGUAJIRA, Macrofauna-MARCORAL y ANH I-II. These expeditions
were conducted entirely by the Marine and Coastal Research Institute ‘‘José Benito
Vives de Andreis’’ (INVEMAR) with support from several institutions in
Colombia and other countries. These included the National Museum of Natural
History (NMNH-Smithsonian Institution), the Ministry of Environment, Housing
and Territorial Development (MAVDT), the Administrative Department of
Science, Technology and Innovation (COLCIENCIAS), the Autonomous Regional
Corporation of La Guajira (CORPOGUAJIRA), and the National Hydrocarbons
Agency (ANH). An important result of these projects was the discovery and
subsequent description of the azooxanthellate deep coral banks in some localities
of the ARCO, TAY and PAL ecoregions (Reyes et al. 2005).
Result from the last 13 years of research include five new records of the class
Crinoidea (Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011), 30 Asteroidea (González et al. 2002;
Benavides-Serrato et al. 2005, 2011), 46 Ophiuroidea (González et al. 2002;
Borrero-Pérez and Benavides-Serrato 2004a; Borrero-Pérez et al. 2008; Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011), eight of Echinoidea (Borrero-Pérez et al. 2002a, b;
González et al. 2002; Borrero-Pérez and Benavides-Serrato 2004b), and 11 of
Holothuroidea (González et al. 2002; Borrero-Pérez et al. 2003). Recently,
Benavides-Serrato et al. (2011) created a catalogue of the classes Crinoidea,
Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea, in which they described 169 species distributed in the
Colombian Caribbean Sea.
Based on this information, some studies about the patterns of distribution and
abundance, ecological aspects and preliminary biogeography of echinoderms
present in the continental shelf and slope of the Colombian Caribbean Sea between
depths of 20 and 940 m have been published (Benavides-Serrato et al. 2001;
Benavides-Serrato and Borrero-Pérez 2004, 2010; Borrero-Pérez et al. 2004).
Part of this important process was the consolidation of the echinoderm collection of the Colombian Museum of Marine Natural History (MHNMC) into
3,804 lots, principally collected from regions of the Colombian Caribbean Sea.
The evolution of the collection coincides with information retrieval by the
INVEMAR projects and also with the activities developed in these projects aimed
at improving the preservation and management of the collections. At the same
time, the Marine Biodiversity Information System (SIBM) was improved and is
now available through the INVEMAR web page (www.invemar.org.co), where a
special section is designated for the echinoderm collection.
156
M. Benavides-Serrato et al.
French Guyana (Voss 1966; Bayer et al. 1970).
In 1998, a new era of research into of colombian echinoderms began, focusing
especially on mid-water (depth of 200 m) and deep-water (up to a depth of
1,000 m) echinoderms, as results of explorations carried out in the Colombian
Caribbean Sea: CIOH-INVEMAR-SMITHSONIAN, Macrofauna I-II, Macrofauna-CORPOGUAJIRA, Macrofauna-MARCORAL y ANH I-II. These expeditions
were conducted entirely by the Marine and Coastal Research Institute ‘‘José Benito
Vives de Andreis’’ (INVEMAR) with support from several institutions in
Colombia and other countries. These included the National Museum of Natural
History (NMNH-Smithsonian Institution), the Ministry of Environment, Housing
and Territorial Development (MAVDT), the Administrative Department of
Science, Technology and Innovation (COLCIENCIAS), the Autonomous Regional
Corporation of La Guajira (CORPOGUAJIRA), and the National Hydrocarbons
Agency (ANH). An important result of these projects was the discovery and
subsequent description of the azooxanthellate deep coral banks in some localities
of the ARCO, TAY and PAL ecoregions (Reyes et al. 2005).
Result from the last 13 years of research include five new records of the class
Crinoidea (Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011), 30 Asteroidea (González et al. 2002;
Benavides-Serrato et al. 2005, 2011), 46 Ophiuroidea (González et al. 2002;
Borrero-Pérez and Benavides-Serrato 2004a; Borrero-Pérez et al. 2008; Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011), eight of Echinoidea (Borrero-Pérez et al. 2002a, b;
González et al. 2002; Borrero-Pérez and Benavides-Serrato 2004b), and 11 of
Holothuroidea (González et al. 2002; Borrero-Pérez et al. 2003). Recently,
Benavides-Serrato et al. (2011) created a catalogue of the classes Crinoidea,
Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea, in which they described 169 species distributed in the
Colombian Caribbean Sea.
Based on this information, some studies about the patterns of distribution and
abundance, ecological aspects and preliminary biogeography of echinoderms
present in the continental shelf and slope of the Colombian Caribbean Sea between
depths of 20 and 940 m have been published (Benavides-Serrato et al. 2001;
Benavides-Serrato and Borrero-Pérez 2004, 2010; Borrero-Pérez et al. 2004).
Part of this important process was the consolidation of the echinoderm collection of the Colombian Museum of Marine Natural History (MHNMC) into
3,804 lots, principally collected from regions of the Colombian Caribbean Sea.
The evolution of the collection coincides with information retrieval by the
INVEMAR projects and also with the activities developed in these projects aimed
at improving the preservation and management of the collections. At the same
time, the Marine Biodiversity Information System (SIBM) was improved and is
now available through the INVEMAR web page (www.invemar.org.co), where a
special section is designated for the echinoderm collection.
156
M. Benavides-Serrato et al.