Three deep-sea species of Dorvilleidae are studied.
Ophryotrocha fabriae, new species, collected at the Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent field (1620-1730 m depth, Mid-Atlantic Ridge), is the first dorvilleid described from Atlantic deep-sea vents. It resembles
O. maciolekae Hilbig & Blake, 1991, another Atlantic deep-sea species but differs in prostomial and pygidial appendages, chaetae, and maxillae. The second dorvilleid species, collected at the Haakon Mosby Mud Volcano (1258 m, SW Barents sea slope, off Norway), differs only slightly from
O. spatula Fournier & Conlan, 1994 from Canadian Arctic ice scours and is, therefore, reported as
O. cf.
spatula, being the first
Ophryotrocha reported from a cold seep site. The third species, sorted from the Menez Gwen hydrothermal vent field samples (840-865 m, Mid-Atlantic Ridge), is reported as
Ophryotrocha sp., as the material was inadequate for full identification.