Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos, Vol. 23
Memoires du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Tome 191
[In English & French] [Includes CD-Rom]

Edited By Bruce Marshall & Bertrand Richer de Forges
September 2004
Publications Scientifiques du Museum
ISBN: 2856535577
640 pages, Illustrated, 8 ¾" x 11"
$325.00 Hardcover


The aim of this volume is the description of the deep-sea benthic fauna of the huge Indo-Pacific Province from which great species richness has been discovered by oceanographic cruises during the last two centuries.

After an initial phase describing habitats and faunas between 1876 (Challenger) and 1952 (Galathea), when the "Great Expeditions" launched by western nations sampled the diversity of marine biota at all depths, the exploration of the deep-sea fauna recommenced in 1976 with the first MUSORSTOM cruise in the Philippines archipelago.

Subsequently, there have been numerous French oceanographic cruises in the Indo-Pacific, sampling various islands and archipelagos from New Caledonia, Wallis & Futuna, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, and the Solomon Islands. Other cruises, initiated by the same research team, were carried out using foreign research vessels in the Indonesian archipelago and off Taiwan.

Contents include: Introduction, Lyssacinosida du Pacifique sud-ouest (Porifera: Hexactinellida), Pycnogonids (Anthropoda: Pycnogonida) from New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga: new records and new species, A worldwide review of hermit crab species of the genus Sympagurus Smith, 1883, A review of the hermit crab genus Nematopagurus A. Milne-Edwards and Bouvier, 1892, and the descriptions of five new species, Species of the genus Munida Leach, 1820 and related genera from Fiji and Tonga.

Marine Biology

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