Chernyshev, A.; Polyakova, N. E. (2017). Nemerteans from deep-sea expedition SokhoBio with description of Uniporus alisae sp. n. (Hoplonemertea: Reptantia s. l.) from the Sea of Okhotsk. Deep-Sea Research Part II
Approximately 90 nemertean specimens were obtained from the material collected by the SokhoBio expedition 2015 in the Kuril Basin of the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Pacific Ocean between the Bussol Strait and the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. The collected samples included representatives of five nemertean groups: (1) Palaeonemertea; (2) Heteronemertea; (3) pelagic Hoplonemertea; (4) reptantian Hoplonemertea; (5) eumonostiliferous Hoplonemertea. Tubulanid palaeonemerteans, heteronemerteans, and eumonostiliferous hoplonemerteans dominated the samples. Systematic position of 20 specimens was estimated based on five gene markers (16S, 28S, 18S, COI, and H3). Unknown abyssal and hadal nemerteans from the basal family Carininidae were found near the Bussol Strait, as well as in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and the adjacent abyssal plain. Four heteronemertean species without longitudinal cephalic slits were collected from the Kuril Basin. The new records of abyssal Sonnenemertes cantelli in the Sea of Okhotsk and near the Bussol Strait confirm the relationships between the abyssal fauna of the Kuril Basin and parts of the Northwest Pacific fauna. The find of Uniporus alisae sp. nov. in the Sea of Okhotsk, described in the article, is the deepest (3301 m) record for the genus Uniporus. The results of a phylogenetic analysis have shown that the new species is referred to Cratenemertea rather than to Polystilifera. A DNA analysis has shown that Nectonemertes major, described from the Sea of Okhotsk, is not a valid species. Gononemertes, obtained from the peribranchial cavity of carnivorous ascidians Culeolus sp. in the Kuril Basin, is closely related to Gononemertes sp. MCZ IZ 45558 from the abyssal plain of the Northwest Pacific, but both do not form a common clade with the shallow-water Gononemertes parasita.
