Population dispersal in the brittle-starOphiocomina nigra(Abildgaard) (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea)

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Abstract
A number of species of ophiuroid are known to occur in dense clusters on the sea-bed. Aggregations ofOphiothrix fragilis(Abildgaard) have been recorded from the English Channel by Allen (1899), Vevers (1951, 1952), Barnes (1955), Ancellin (1957), Cabioch (1961, 1967, 1968), Holme (1966), Warner (1969, 1971), and by Allain (1974). Beds of the same species have been found in the Irish Sea by Jones (1951) and by Brun (1969), on the west coast of Ireland by Könnecker & Keegan (1973) and Keegan (1974), and on the west coast of Scotland, where it is widespread in sea lochs and elsewhere around the coast (McIntyre, 1956, and personal communication, 1975). Records ofOphiothrix fragilisfrom the North Sea have been summarized by Ursin (1960). In the Mediterranean, aggregations ofOphiothrix quinquemaculata(D.Ch.) have been described by Guille (1964, 1965) from off the south coast of France, and by Czihak (1959) from the Adriatic. Hurley (1959) gives underwater photographs ofOphiocomina bollonsiFarquhar from the Cook Strait, New Zealand. Further examples of aggregation in ophiuroids and other echinoderms are cited by Reese (1966), Mileykovskiy (1967) and by Warner (1978).

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