Deep-sea echinoderms of the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahama Islands, have been studied, using trawled collections made by the University of Miami together with observations from the deep submersible Alvin. Transect runs in the submersible permitted studies of population densities and behaviour of approximately 38 species of larger invertebrates, of which 27 were echinoderms. Several echinoderm species show a patchy distribution pattern which is apparently not related to available food resources. Some species are exclusively herbivores, feeding on fragments of turtle grass, Thalassia testudinata and sargassum weed, Sargassum spp. Feeding habits of some Tongue of the Ocean echinoderms are compared with those of the same species from further north, where supplies of plant material are not nearly so abundant.

From 1983 until 1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions. At the time it was the most extended data compilation on ferromanganese deposits world wide. Initially published in a proprietary format incompatible with present day standards it was jointly decided by AWI and NOAA to transcribe this legacy data into PANGAEA. This transfer is augmented by a careful checking of the original sources when available and the encoding of ancillary information (sample description, method of analysis...) not present in the NOAA-MMS database.

Supplement to: Pawson, D L (1982): Deep-sea echinoderms in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahama Islands: a survey, using the research submersible Alvin. Australian Museum Memoir, 16, 129-145