Rediscovery of the Ophiuroid Genus Ctenamphiura Verril

Abstract

ON September 10, 1874, H.M.S. Challenger, while dredging at Station 188, at the western end of Torres Strait, obtained from 28 fathoms two specimens of an amphiurid which afterwards became the genotype of the monotypic genus Ctenamphiura, receiving the name Ctenamphiura maxima (Lyman, 1879). It is remarkable among amphiurids for its robust build, the fact that the outer oral papillæ far exceed in size the infradental pair, for its very large tentacle scales, tumid disk and thick arms bristling with erect arm-spines arranged in dense comb-like masses. It has never since been seen, nor has any related form been discovered so far as I can determine. Of the only two specimens extant, one is in the British Museum, the other in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard.