Stylasteridae (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Anthoathecata) of the New Caledonian region

Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos is a series dedicated to the inventory and description of the deep-sea fauna of the world, with special emphasis on their most extensive--but remote and least-explored--habitats: the Indo-West Pacific. Growing out of marine expeditions undertaken by the French National Museum of Natural History and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, the series continues to present many new, strange, and sometimes colorful invertebrates.
The present volume presents results from recent expeditions within the New Caledonian Exclusive Economic Zone, reporting ninety-eight species (including fifty-seven new species) of corals from the Stylasteridae family and one new calcified species of hydrozoa from the family Hydractiniidae. Including numerous seamounts, submarine ridges, and small islands, New Caledonia's deep-sea benthos are ideal habitat for stylasterids, making it the most species-rich marine region in the world for this taxon.

《热带深海底栖生物》（Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos）是一套致力于全球深海动物区系编目与形态描述的系列专著，其核心研究重点为分布范围最广但地处偏远、探索程度极低的栖息环境——印度-西太平洋海域。该系列依托法国国家自然历史博物馆与法国发展研究所（Institut de Recherche pour le Développement）联合开展的海洋科考项目发展而来，至今已陆续报道大量新颖、奇特且部分色彩艳丽的无脊椎动物。
本卷刊载了新喀里多尼亚专属经济区内近期科考活动的研究成果，共计报道柱星螅科（Stylasteridae）珊瑚98种（含57个新种），以及水螅纲（Hydrozoa）海壳螅科（Hydractiniidae）的1个新钙化水螅物种。新喀里多尼亚海域分布有众多海山、海底山脊与小型岛屿，其深海底栖环境堪称柱星螅类的理想栖息生境，也使其成为全球该类群物种多样性最丰富的海洋区域。