Résultats des Campagnes MUSORSTOM is an ongoing series on the deep-sea fauna of the tropical Indo-Pacific. Initially focused on the results of oceanographic work in the Philippines and New Caledonia, the series has expanded to include the results of trapping experiments in French Polynesia, as well as dredging and trawling expeditions in eastern Indonesia, Wallis and Futuna, and Vanuatu. The reports involve a worldwide network of taxonomists. The present volume (which is volume 176 in the parent series Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle) consists of 13 contributions covering a broad range of taxa, from bryozoans (one paper) and crustaceans (nine papers) to pycnogonids (one), brachiopods (one), and fishes (one). Two new families, 22 new genera and 112 new species are established. Many additional species are revised and illustrated, and new data on their distribution are presented. Of particular interest in this volume are the outstandingly diverse assemblages of ascophorine Bryozoa, brachiopods and grenadier fishes recorded from New Caledonia. The MUSORSTOM series is a joint program of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and the Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération (ORSTOM).
Alain Crosnier, who edits the report volumes, is a senior scientist emeritus with ORSTOM and has published many papers on the systematics of tropical shrimps and other crustaceans.