[From Introduction]

The polychaete fauna of Oregon has been studied very little. The only large survey to date was by Hartman and Reish (1950); a few additional records can be found scattered in expedition reports. A list of polychaetes from shelf areas identified by Donald J. Reish was published by Carey (1972). The present material was collected to characterize bathyal and abyssal environments off Oregon. The polychaete fraction of this material was treated first by Hancock (1969); later, parts of the material were reviewed by the senior author, and descriptions and illustrations were added.

The samples were taken in a transect from Yaquina Bay, Oregon, extending about 320 km offshore. The depth ranged from 100 to 2900 m. The permanent stations, each visited a variable number of times, are referred to as NAD stations. NAD stations with numbers below nine are in waters shallower than 200 m; those with numbers above 20 are on the Cascade Abyssal Plain, the intermediate stations are on a steep slope. Figure 1 shows the position of the transect; the insert is a depth profile. Details on the stations can be found in the station list.

A total of one hundred and forty-two species of polychaetes are reported upon here. One hundred thirty-five have been identified to species and named; another seven cannot be identified to species but belong to genera not otherwise represented. Thirty-seven families are represented. One, the TOMOPTERIDAE, contains exclusively pelagic members, and the present specimens must either have been caught in the water column or have been brought in during the screening process.