First record of Ophionereis dubia (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from Chabahar Bay (Gulf of Oman, Iran) gilan attaran-fariman 1 , azadeh beygmoradi 1 and karin boos 2 1 Chabahar Maritime University, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Department of Marine Biology, Daneshgah Avenue, 99717-56499, Chabahar, Iran, 2 MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences University of Bremen; Leobener Strasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany/BreMarE—Bremen Marine Ecology, Marine Zoology, University of Bremen, PO Box 330440, 28334 Bremen, Germany During a faunistic survey in the rocky intertidal of Chabahar Bay (Iranian coast of the Gulf of Oman) in 2014, Ophionereis dubia, was reported as a new species record from this locality. The details on the taxonomic and morphological features as well as on the ecology of this ophiuroid are discussed in the present study and viewed in the light of the species’ new appearance at Chabahar Bay. Keywords: Ophiuroidea, Ophionereidae, taxonomy, morphology, Ophionereis dubia, Chabahar Bay, Iran Submitted 10 March 2014; accepted 15 July 2014 INTRODUCTION Chabahar Bay, an inlet located at the northern part of the Gulf of Oman along the Iranian coast, is known as a species rich area which comprises representatives from a number of differ- ent taxa such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs, polychaetes and echinoderms (Ghanbarifardi & Malek, 2009; Yazdani et al., 2009; Sadeghi & Loghmani, 2010; Khaleghi & Owfi, 2011; Fazeli et al., 2013). From the class of ophiuroid echinoderms, however, so far, only two species have been identified for this area, Macrophiothrix elongata H.L. Clark, 1938 and Ophiothrix (Ophiothrix) savignyi (Mu ¨ller & Troschel, 1842) (Khaleghi & Owfi, 2011). Echinoderms identified in zooplank- tonic surveys were reported only as ‘not further determined auricularia and ophiopluteus larvae’ (Fazeli et al., 2013). In the present study, Ophionereis dubia (Mu ¨ller & Troschel, 1842) was documented as a new species record for an inter- tidal area of Chabahar Bay. The present study highlights the morphologically relevant structures and taxonomic features of O. dubia. We discuss these in comparison with the pub- lished literature. We further discuss ecological aspects of O. dubia in order to better understand the recent finding and addition to the present species inventory of Chabahar Bay. MATERIALS AND METHODS During a monthly faunistic survey from October 2013 to January 2014, ophiuroid echinoderms were collected by hand from the rocky intertidal area of Tis Port, located in the western part of Chabahar Bay at the Gulf of Oman (Iranian coast) (25821.1 ′ N 60836.0 ′ E) (Figure 1). During this survey, the focus was solely on the qualitative species compos- ition of this locality. For this reason, no systematic quantita- tive sampling design was employed. Along a coastal transect of approximately 500 m, brittle stars were collected and up to ten individuals per sampling event were transferred to the laboratory. During the survey all different types of zonations of the intertidal area of Chabahar Bay were included in order to cover a variety of different habitats (i.e. rocky sediment, pebbles, sand and algae). The underneath sides of larger rocks were carefully scrutinized for the presence of cryptic species. All collected ophiuroids were examined under the dissection-microscope. Photographs of Ophionereis dubia were taken using a stereo-microscope equipped with a camera model C-DS model T4AL250 V (21 V 150 W) and selected body parts and morphologically relevant structures Fig. 1. Geographical position of the study location (rocky intertidal area) at Tis Port in Chabahar Bay, and its position at the southern Iranian coast of the Gulf of Oman. Corresponding author: G. Attaran-Fariman Email: g.attaran@cmu.ac.ir 1 Marine Biodiversity Records, page 1 of 5. # Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2014 doi:10.1017/S1755267214000906; Vol. 7; e92; 2014 Published online