Pogonophora in the Hardangerfjord, Western Norway

Abstract

UNTIL recently, Pogonophora were known only from the north-western Pacific and from Indonesia. AH species being found in the deep sea such a limited distribution seemed unlikely, the more so as the tubes of the animals are hair-like and easily overlooked. In fact, new investigations and revision of old collections have proved that the Pogonophora are widely distributed and also occur in relatively shallow water. Thus one species is now known from the Polar Sea, and Kirkegaard found Pogonophora in the Galathea collections from Indonesia¹ and from the Gulf of Panama². Jägersten³ described Siboglinum ekmani from old collections from about 500 m. in the Skagerrak, and he also described the larva of another species from only 180 m. depth in the same area⁴. Kirkegaard⁵ re-investigated the deepest parts of the Skagerrak and found more material of S. ekmani, and Southward^6–8 has obtained several species from the continental slope south-west of England and west of Ireland.