The material studied here has been collected along the Catalonian coast and shelf at depths of 5 to 300 m by means of trawling and SCUBA diving. Nine species or subspecies are represented, including two subspecies of Parazoanthus axinellae (axinellae and brevitentacularis) and two subspecies of Epizoanthus arenaceus (arenaceus and ingerborgae). Gerardia savaglia has been obtained only once on hard bottom at 45 m. Parazoanthus axinellae and Epizoanthus arenaceus are common on hard bottoms from 5 to 60 m. Epizoanthus paxi, also common on hard bottoms, is limited to the upper levels. Epizoanthus incrustans is rather abundant on sand and gravel bottom between 20 and 100 m whereas Epizoanthus mediterraneus and Eplzoanthus paguricola are rather rare species on muddy bottoms in shelf depths

12 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables

Peer reviewed