Amphitrite fauveli sp.N. (polychaeta: Terebellidae) from the bay of biscay and the gulf of cadiz (NE atlantic)

Abstract

A new species of Amphitrite is described from two different regions in the NE Atlantic: the Bay of Biscay and the Gulf of Cadiz. Amphitrite fauveli sp.n. differs from other Amphitrite species with cirriform branchiae mainly by having a smaller number of nephridial papillae (four pairs) and by lacking eyespots. In the Bay of Biscay, the new species occurred on the slope of two submarine canyons — Saint Nazaire (1105 m depth) and the head of a Cap Breton canyon tributary (214 m depth), associated with coral framework (Madrepora oculata Linnaeus, 1758 and Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus, 1758) in Saint Nazaire canyon, Dendrophyllia cornigera (Lamarck, 1816) in the Cap Breton tributary). In the Gulf of Cadiz the species was collected from the crater of two mud volcanoes (Darwin and Captain Arutyunov), at depths between 1100 and 1317 m.