Two new records of sponges are registered from Ilha Grande Bay (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), which is an important area in Angra dos Reis for its tourist, economic and environmental contributions. Two species are redescribed in order to elucidate their morphological variations in relation to the known Caribbean specimens: Iotrochota arenosa, a new record to Brazil; and Echinodictyum dendroides, which have now been recorded on the south-east coast of Brazil for the first time. Furthermore, the genus Echinodictyum is redefined.

The alien mollusc Aplysia dactylomela is recorded for the first time from the Egadi Islands marine protected area (western Sicily). This species has been widely reported in the Mediterranean and has established populations in Sicily. The presence of a few specimens let us suppose that its occurrence in this area is a recent event and that soon new populations will be sighted in the whole Egadi Islands and on the western and southern coasts of Sicily.

Two species of Eriocheir have been recorded from the Middle East. The Chinese mitten crab, E. sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853, has been reported from the Anzali Marshland, northern Iran and recently, the Hepu mitten crab E. hepuensis Dai, 1991, from Iraqi waters. The present record of E. hepuensis from the Bahmanshir River, Abadan, southern Iran, documents the presence of the species in the Karun River system, confirms the occurrence of the species in the Persian Gulf and establishes a possible range extension in the region.

Porpita porpita widely occurs in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea. In spite of its presence in the north-western Indian Ocean with records from the eastern Arabian Sea (Indian coast), its distribution in the North Arabian Sea, at the Pakistan coast has been found lacking in the literature. The present report deals with the occurrence of P. porpita at the Karachi coast of Pakistan and confirms its presence in the region.

The Indian swellshark Cephaloscyllium silasi is a poorly known deep water scyliorhinid (Carcharhiniformes) shark described from the south-west coast of India (off Kollam). Since the original description, reports of this species are absent due to rarity of specimens. This paper presents the first report of its egg case and also provides detailed morphological data about C. silasi based on recently collected materials.

The leucosiid crab, Paranursia abbreviata, is recorded for the first time from the waters in Singapore. This record connects the known northern (as far south as Malaysia) and southern (Australia) distribution ranges of this species.

The Bahamian archipelago is one of the richest regions in the Caribbean province and its importance as a hot spot of biodiversity and potential centre of origination of new species in the tropical western Atlantic has been suggested. In this paper I report on the sea slugs collected during a field trip to Eleuthera Island, the Bahamas. Animals were collected from the intertidal down to five metres deep by direct sampling. Nineteen species of opisthobranchs were found including two new records to the Bahamas (Berghia stephanieae and Gastropteron vespertilium) and three putatively new species of Haminoea. Colour variation was detected on adults of the species Chelidonura hirundinina and Bulla occidentalis, the latter suggesting isolation across a reduced geographical scale. Ontogenetic variation in Philinopsis cf. pusa was found and is here documented. The uniqueness of the Bahamian biodiversity is highlighted.

The north-west Atlantic amphipod Ptilohyale littoralis has been introduced to The Netherlands. After its initial discovery in the port of Rotterdam, additional specimens were collected near the national centre of shellfish trade and culture Yerseke and along the Westerschelde estuary, which leads to the port of Antwerp.

Aggregates of the Polychaeta Phyllochaetopterus socialis were recorded for the first time off Gemlik Bay in the Sea of Marmara, in August 2008. These were found at about 53 m depth, on the soft sediments around the sub-sea part of the North Anatoly Earthquake Fault. Samples were landed by beam trawl. Total wet weight of the mats was 58 kg. Forty-three species belonging to 10 phyla associated with P. socialis were recorded from the whole landing materials. Echinodermata and Gastropoda were the most abundant (12 and 8 species, respectively). Shannon–Wiener diversity and Margalef species richness indices were applied to analyse the structure of benthic communities. Presence and abundance lognormal distribution of the species and communities in mat habitat are shown. The hydrographic environment of the water mass is also discussed.

The caprellid amphipod, Caprella mutica, is a well-known invasive species, originating in the Sea of Japan, which has been rapidly expanding along the coasts of North America, Europe and Oceania for the last forty years. Caprella mutica is frequently associated with man-made structures, especially those dedicated to aquaculture activities, where it can reach high densities of up to 300,000 ind./m2. A well-established population of C. mutica was recently found by SCUBA-divers in Galician waters (north-west Spain) at 6 different man-made floating structures along Ría de Arousa. The record of this species in this location implies a new southernmost limit of distribution, extending the known distribution range in Atlantic European waters and confirming the continuity of the colonization southwards.

Specimens of blunthead puffer, Sphoeroides pachygaster, known previously from the western Mediterranean, were recorded for the first time in Syrian marine waters (eastern Mediterranean). Their morphometric and meristic characteristics are reported.

The Midnight Snapper Macolor macularis, is reported for the first time from the Indian exclusive economic zone based on the two specimens collected from Cochin Fisheries Harbour, Kerala on the south-west coast of India on December 2012 and October 2013. Morphometric and meristic data of the specimens are presented and discussed.

The basket star Gorgonocephalus eucnemis is a common ophiuroid resident of rocky bottoms and artificial substrata at depths of 8 to 1,850 m, and in the eastern Pacific is distributed from the Bering Sea to San Diego, USA. This paper presents a new record of this species obtained with a submersible at Guadalupe Island, Mexico (29.10976°N, −118.25417°W), which extends its distribution range over 400 km, and corresponds to the southernmost site of occurrence of this ophiuroid in the eastern Pacific.

Five genera and eight species of gastropods of families Conidae and Conilithidae were observed in their natural habitats on the southernmost portion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, off the northern coast of Roatan Island, Honduras. Fifty per cent of species are widespread Caribbean–western Atlantic species, whereas 50% are endemic to the Nicaraguan biogeographical subprovince and Roatan Island. Multiple sightings during night SCUBA diving operations revealed that the reef off northern Roatan supports a healthy and diverse population of conoidean gastropods. Distribution of all recorded species by depth and habitat type revealed a distinct reef partitioning between the 4 most commonly occurring species.

The species of Glycerella share a prostomium with four rings bearing four distal appendages, and proboscis with rod-like aileron. They also have the first two parapodia uniramous, while the following are biramous, with dorsal and ventral cirri; the notopodia bear simple capillaries chaetae. The neuropodia are provided in the upper part with compound spinigerous chaetae while those in the lower part are falcigerous. Glycerella magellanica has been reported in the south-west Indian Ocean, south and north-west Pacific Ocean, and north and central Atlantic Ocean. Herein, the first record of this species is reported in the south-west Atlantic, specifically off the north-east coast of Rio de Janeiro, in the Campos Basin. A single specimen of this species was collected during the ECOPROF project coordinated by CENPES/PETROBRAS, although this species has been recorded elsewhere in muddy sediments. In this study the specimen was collected in a dead fragment of the coral Solenosmilia variabilis, at 745 m depth. Morphologically the specimen is very similar to that used in the original description. However, some morphological differences were found related to the appearance of the compound chaetae and aileron. These differences may indicate either that in the original description these features were overlooked, or rather a case of intra-specific variation.

This paper confirms the occurrence of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, in a Portuguese estuary (Sado estuary), demonstrating a full south-western extension of the species distribution along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts bordering the European continent. The present record associated with current and previous anecdotal occurrence reports suggests that the blue crab has established a population in the Sado estuary but with low census size.

Prosthiostomum trilineatum of the family Prosthiostomidae has been reported for the first time from Ratnagiri, the west coast of India. This species has broadly rounded anterior end, tapering body, distinct orange-yellow, black and white frontal transverse bands and yellow-black longitudinal stripe. For the first time histological details of this species are presented. This confirms the presence of a pair of free prostatic vesicles and sclerotized stylet peculiar to the genus Prosthiostomum. This species is known from Japan, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, the Red Sea and Singapore. This is also a new record of the family Prosthiostomidae from this coast. To consider the currently known two colour morphs of this species, other than presented here, a comparative examination of the reproductive system and molecular details is needed.

Previous studies indicated that a tropical mottled eel Anguilla marmorata Quoy & Gaimard, 1824 had been found in Peninsular Malaysia. After reexamination of a number of key characters of a preserved specimen, the species was identified as Anguilla bengalensis bengalensis Gray, 1831. This is the first record of the occurrence of this species in Malaysian waters. There was no eel aquaculture around the eel habitats. Thus, A. bengalensis bengalensis is a native eel species in Malaysia. The new record is suggestive of an offshore spawning area and migration route to the Malaysian coast.

Five living specimens of the Aglajidae Spinoaglaja wildpretii are reported from north-eastern Sardinia (Tyrrhenian Sea); these are the first records from Italian shores, the first record of living specimens in the entire Mediterranean and they noticeably enlarge the known range of the species. Some ecological notes are added.

This paper reports for the first time the presence of Holothuria (Roweothuria) arguinensis in the Algerian coastal waters. Individuals of this species were taken from the Tamentefoust area (Bay of Algiers, Algeria, 3°13′E 36°48′N) at 4.5 m depth and examined, using traditional morphological and endoskeletal characters. The general body form and the ossicles are in accordance with the descriptions of the species obtained in the literature.