Sterrer's cave shrimp (Parhippolyte sterreri) is recorded for the first time from San Salvador Island, Bahamas. A single adult specimen was collected in June 2011 with hand nets at the southern conduit mouth in Mermaid Pond, an anchialine pond on the south-east corner of the island. Twelve additional specimens were collected in June 2013 from two additional sites near Mermaid Pond (Dunk City Pond and the Pigeon Creek Conduit). These collections represent a minor range extension of P. sterreri in the Bahamas. Additionally, we report on populations of Barbouria cubensis observed in 17 other anchialine ponds on San Salvador Island.

Between 2007 and 2014, three individual thorny seahorses, Hippocampus histrix, were recorded in Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia. Specimens ranged in size from 6 to 8 cm and were considered to be females. This extends the known range of H. histrix along the east coast of Australia by 1700 km.

Albinism is a hereditary lack of pigmentation caused by deficiencies in enzymes related to the metabolism of melanin. This mutation is present in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, including the Holothuroidea class; nevertheless, information about the occurrence of albinism in these kinds of echinoderms is scarce and refers to species from temperate and cold regions of the ocean. In 2013, we observed two albino individuals of Isostichopus fuscus, one at Loreto (25°45′54″N, 111°14′36″W) and the second one at Los Angeles Bay (29°02′54″N, 113°29′49″W). This is the first documented record of albinism for this species.

This record represents the northernmost occurrence of Lessepsian migrant fish Siganus luridus in the Aegean Sea. A single specimen was caught off the coast of Assos, Edremit Bay, in November 2014 by trammel net at a depth of about 2–3 m on a sandy, rocky bottom mixed with Posidonia. Here, the morphometric and meristic characteristics of the specimen are identified and the dispersion of the species in the Mediterranean Sea is briefly discussed.

The species Homostichanthus duerdeni and Anemonia sargassensis are recorded for the first time in the Mexican Caribbean. Homostichanthus duerdeni is taxonomically diagnosed, and images from living specimens, including external and internal features and cnidae, are provided. The extension of the geographical distribution range of A. sargassensis is discussed, as well as the taxonomic status of the previous records of actiniarians in the Mexican Caribbean. An updated list of sea anemones in the region is provided, comprising 15 species in 11 localities along the Mexican Caribbean.

We report here, for the first time, the existence of a white colour morph Elacatinus figaro, an endemic threatened cleaner goby from the Brazilian Coast. The specimen from this study lived in a cleaning station along with other E. figaro. Records were made based on pictures and the specimen was collected and preserved for genetic studies. Although the strong bright yellow colour is of vital importance for attracting other fish to the cleaning station, we speculate that living alongside regular-coloured individuals can diminish the disadvantage of not having the flashy stripe.

The occurrence of the rare serpent eel Ophisurus serpens is reported here for the first time from the Anatolian coasts of the South Aegean Sea. On 5 January 2015, a single specimen with a total length of 121. 2 cm and 363.14 g was collected by seine boat off Gökova Bay, Turkey. This finding shows that its population is expanding southwards, from Izmir to the Anatolian coasts of the Aegean Sea.

Echinolittorina punctata was historically distributed in the southern sectors of the Mediterranean Sea. However, in the last decades a progressive range extension has occurred. In this context, new populations in France (Colliure, Cap d'Agde) and in Italy (Monte Argentario, Tuscany) are reported here. The population in Cap d'Agde is the northernmost in the entire Mediterranean Sea, the population in Monte Argentario is the northernmost along the Italian Tyrrhenian coastline and along the direction of range extension described in the last few years. Details on population density and size frequency distributions in Monte Argentario are provided, showing a decrease in density and an increase in minimum size from south to north. New records are also provided from Salamina Island and Rhodes Island in Greece. The latter likely dates back to 1836–1837 and is the first record from the Mediterranean Sea. This record confirms that the species was widely distributed in the Levantine Sea at the time, although records from Greece and Turkey are extremely rare in the literature and in museum collections.

The amphinomid polychaete Linopherus cf. canariensis was recorded for the first time in the coast of Rio de Janeiro (South-east Brazil). In 2011, a total of 15 specimens were collected in the intertidal zone of Itaipu Beach (Niterói) in dead Encope emarginata test fragments. In this study, the specimens are described, and a brief discussion about their morphological variation and invading potential is provided.

Three species of bivalves, Thyasira succisa, Lyonsia norwegica and Poromya granulate, were recorded for the first time in the Adriatic Sea during surveys conducted from 2010 to 2012 on offshore relict sand bottoms at a depth range of 45–80 m.

Six electric rays, Narcine leoparda, were caught off the coast of Manta, Ecuador between August 2013 and January 2014. These specimens represent the first record in Ecuadorian waters and the southernmost report in the eastern Pacific for the distribution of Narcine leoparda.

The threatened grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus) is reported for the first time from oceanic coral reefs in the Timor Sea. Generally known from temperate and subtropical coastal reef habitats, this species was encountered by Indonesian traditional fishers on oceanic coral reefs in an area of the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone known as the 1974 MoU Box, some 200 km from the Australian mainland. The presence of C. taurus on these remote tropical reefs bears important management implications, including the species’ protected status in Australian waters and the challenges of regulating catches in areas permitted for traditional Indonesian fishing.

The deep-water mysid Ceratomysis spinosa Faxon, 1893, previously known from Panama, Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea and Alaska, USA is reported for the first time off the western coast of Mexico, in the eastern Pacific. The specimens, a male of 27.5 mm in total length (TL) and five females of 28.5–34.5 mm TL, were collected between depths of 1296 and 1580 m. The telson is illustrated, showing numerous setae on the lateral margins, and longer, robust setae in the distal third and on the posterior margin.

A new species of corallivorous goniasterid, Evoplosoma watlingi n. sp., from Bear Seamount in the North Atlantic is described in conjunction with an overview of other species within the genus Evoplosoma. Hippasteria tasmanica McKnight, 2006 is re-classified within Evoplosoma. In situ images of Atlantic deep-sea Goniasteridae, including Evoplosoma spp., Hippasteria phrygiana and Circeaster americanus, are presented herein. Observations of several Evoplosoma species and the Atlantic C. americanus are documented for the first time, recorded by the R/V Okeanos Explorer. The feeding duration of C. americanus is also documented for the first time.

The under-rock guild of nemerteans from Lough Hyne, south-west Ireland was recorded during a long-term benthic survey of the marine reserve. From 2004 to 2014, common nemerteans were recorded annually in late summer for ten historical monitoring sites (each 10 m of shoreline); more comprehensive surveys were completed in 2012 (4126 low-intertidal to shallow-subtidal rocks were turned) and 2014 (1289 rocks turned) with supplementary information in 2015. The bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus, was the most abundant nemertean species. It was significantly more abundant at the extremely shallow East Castle site than the other nine sites; peak populations (across all ten sites) occurred in 2012. The Lusitanian nemertean Paradrepanophorus crassus was abundant after 2007. To date, 13 nemertean species were recorded with numerous new records for the lough, including Tubulanus annulatus, Micrura purpurea, Ramphogordius sanguineus, Micrella rufa and Emplectonema gracile. Three additional nemertean species were previously recorded, indicating that at least 16 species occur in the lough. Given the low densities and paucity of comprehensive earlier records, we are not able to ascertain definitely whether these species are new incursions or if sparsely distributed residents have increased.

A checklist of Gymnolaemata bryozoans from Bahia State, north-east Brazil, is presented. Specimens are lodged in the Bryozoa collection of the Museu de Zoologia at the Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). The checklist comprises 135 species in 54 families, the majority belonging to the order Cheilostomata.

In the North Sea, observations of the solitary coral Caryophyllia smithii are mostly limited to the north-east coast of the United Kingdom including the Shetland and Orkney islands. To date, C. smithii has not been reported from far offshore locations in the North Sea south of 57.7°N. Distribution of this species appears limited by the restricted availability of natural hard substrata in the central southern North Sea. There are, however, many artificial hard substrata in this area in the form of shipwrecks and offshore oil and gas installations. These may provide stepping stones for C. smithii to expand its distribution. Here we report the first sighting of C. smithii in the central southern North Sea on an unidentified wreck on the Dogger Bank. This is the first offshore observation of any hard coral in the central southern North Sea.

The ceramiacean red alga Acrothamnion preissii is an Indo-Pacific species that was first recorded in the Mediterranean Sea (Italy) in 1969, and which subsequently spread within the north-western basin, reaching the Balearic Islands to the west and Sicily to the south. Here we record A. preissii from the Maltese Islands, which represents a further southwards expansion of its known distribution range in the Mediterranean Sea. Although this species can be invasive, becoming the dominant epiphyte by forming dense turfs that smother native species, so far there is no evidence for such an invasion phase in the Maltese Islands.

The caridean shrimp Bathypalaemonella serratipalma was photographed by a remotely operated vehicle at 1120–2223 m in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The shrimp was living on previously unreported host cnidarians of the families Isididae and Alcyoniidae, and a black coral (Antipatharia), as well as previously reported gorgonian hosts (Chrysogorgia and Iridogorgia spp.). We did not observe interactions between B. serratipalma and other invertebrates living on these hosts, nor did the shrimp occur on the same host cnidarians as the anomurans Uroptychus nitidus or Eumunida picta.

The occurrence of the Indo-Pacific porcupine puffer fish Diodon holocanthus (Linnaeus, 1758) was recorded on 17 November 2013 on the Gopalpur coast of the Ganjam district, Odisha, as the first distributional record of this species from the east coast of India. Recordings appeared to increase after the event of the super cyclone ‘Phailin’, which occurred during 12 October 2013. Since then, many incidents of bycatch were observed from the Gopalpur coast. This poisonous porcupine puffer posed a subsequent threat to local anglers by damaging their fishing nets and by reducing the catch of commercially important fishes. However, a lack of substantial information regarding this puffer from the Gopalpur coast makes it difficult to correlate the facts.