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Five specimens of brittle star were collected from a deep-sea seamount in the Northwest Pacific, and identified into three species. One which is new to science, Ophioplinthaca grandisquama n. sp., can be easily distinguished from its congeners by the distinctly elongated and stout tentacle scales, stout and long disc spines, capitate with typically elongate to flaring head bearing numerous distinct thorns, radial shields roughly triangular and contiguous distally. One specimen was identified as Ophioplinthaca semele (Clark, 1949), which had been reported in Hawaii seamounts, is a new record of this species in the Northwest Pacific. The remaining specimen was an unknown species of Ophioplinthaca, with some different characteristics from other species of Ophioplinthaca. However, we, herein, prefer not to attach a name to this specimen until more morphological characteristics are available. The finding of this new species and two new records further enriches the distribution of Ophioplinthaca in the seamount of Northwest Pacific, providing useful information for marine protection in the cobalt-rich area.

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Amphiura is a widely distributed genus of Ophiuroidea from various environment, play an important role in evolution. Here, we reported a complete mitochondrial genome of Amphiura sp. which was collected from a deep sea seamount in the West Pacific. The mitogenome is 15,457 in length, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes. All genes are arranged in the same order of published mitogenomes in the same genus. The phylogenetic analysis support monophyly of the family Amphiuridae but not for the genus Amphiura.