Deep water pycnogonids of the Cape Verde Slope

Abstract

The Pycnogonida are a group regularly recorded in deep-sea benthic samples, although normally in low numbers. Most analyses from such surveys record new species, and many of these remain known only from a few specimens, often only the types. However, the amount of deep sea-bed sampled is necessarily proportionately so small that it may be argued that any species taken are probably common, owing to their having been sampled at all. It is evident from the gaps in the (often world-wide) distribution of these known species and their limited occurrence that deeper water pycnogonid faunas are still at best poorly known (q.v. Child, 1982).