(NW Pacific, south-west Bering Sea, about 2700 m; photos ROV Comanche 18 NSCMB FEB RAS)
Ophiodiscus is a very interesting and even enigmatic genus of sea anemones. Originally it was described about 140 years ago, in 1882, by
Professor Richard Hertwig who gave description of several specimens trawled from great depths of coasts of Chile by famous Challenger Expedition.
Nobody else saw other specimens assignable to this genus till now. Only very recently we reported this genus again. In our publication (link below), we report two new species of Ophiodiscus, including the species shown here.
Key features are disc-shaped body with thick tentacles arranged in a single row on the margin of the disc. All known specimens come from great depth.
Till now Ophiodiscus bukini is known only from limited area in NW Pacific, but actual distribution may be wider.
Previously Ophiodiscus was assigned to the family Actinostolidae, but now we place it in Sicyonidae, a family established by Hertwig in 1882.
