Report on some deep-sea echiurans (Echiura) of the North-East Atlantic

Seven species of deep-sea echiurans (phylum Echiura) are described in this work, of which Achaetobonellia ricei n. sp. is new to science. The main diagnostic characters of the new species include the presence of a thick integument covered with microscopic papillae aligned roughly in transverse rows at the anterior end of the trunk; a bilobed proboscis with the lateral margins uniting proximally to form a funnel around the mouth; a single gonoduct on the right side of the nerve cord with the gonostome located sub-basally on a short stalk and sac-like or tubular anal vesicles into which open numerous excretory tubules. All the specimens in the collection belong to the family Bonelliidae. Sluiterina sibogae (Sluiter, 1902) and Pseudoikedella achaeta Zenkevitch, 1958 are new records for the Atlantic Ocean. The specimens were collected during the BENGAL cruises that were undertaken between September 1996 and October 1998 in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the North-East Atlantic.