An uncommon or just an ecologically demanding species? Finding of aggregations of the brittle-star Ophiothrix maculata on the Northwest African slope

Ophiuroidea constitutes the largest class of the phylum Echinodermata. It includes families with suspension-feeder behaviour that can be found in dense aggregations in all oceans worldwide. Ophiothrix maculata was known as a rare suspension-feeder brittle star, with only four records in the Eastern Central Atlantic dating from almost 100 years ago.