New abyssal Primnoidae (Anthozoa: Octocorallia) from the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, equatorial northeastern Pacific

Abstract

Three new species, including a new genus, Abyssoprimnoa, are described from abyssal depths from the easternmost Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the equatorial northeastern Pacific. This prompted the listing of all 39 octocorallian taxa collected deeper than 3000 m, which constitutes only about 1.2 % of the octocoral species. To place this in perspective, the depth records for other benthic cnidarian orders are compared.