No abstract

The gigantic pycnogonid, Colossendeis colossea Wilson, 1881 is reported for the first time in the Western Indian Ocean. Two male specimens of this species were collected from a bottom trawl operated at bathyal depths (>1000 m) off the Southwest coast of India.

This paper redescribes sexually dimorphic Cruriraja andamanica based on five juvenile (four males, one female) and four adult specimens (three males, one female) collected from Andaman waters. Morphometric comparison of the present specimens with a female specimen collected off the coast of Tanzania reveals considerable dissimilarities between them. These findings, along with the wide geographical distance between collection locations, support a need for revision of the Tanzanian specimen, which, in all probability, represents a new species in the genus. The paper also addresses zoogeography of genus Cruriraja across the world's oceans and provides a revised key to the species.

A deep-sea species of snake eel (family Ophichthidae, subfamily Ophichthinae) Ophichthus mccoskeri sp. nov. is described based on 6 specimens (331–447 mm total length) trawled at 314–363 m depth in Andaman waters, India. This species is differentiated from its deep-water congeners by a combination of characters such as its large eyes, dorsal-fin origin a short distance behind pectoral-fin tip, anal fin black posteriorly, three preopercular pores, maxillary and mandibular teeth ending as triserial, and in a vertebral formula of 20/55/153.