The present paper describes 28 species from nine sedentary families of polychaetes obtained by the Galathea Expedition 1950-52. These families are:
Orbiniidae, Paraonidae, Magelonidae, Flabelligeridae, Scalibregmatidae, Opheliidae, Sternaspidae, Sabellariidae, and Pectinariidae. Two species,
Therochaeta antoni and
Asclerocheilus tasmanius, are new to science. Sixteen of the species were obtained from the abyssal zone, and twelve of these were also recorded from the bathyal and littoral zones. The known distribution of many of the species is extended. Some well known species from the North Atlantic, i.e.,
Ammotrypanella arctica and
Ophelina aulogastrella, were recorded from areas around New Zealand. This can probably be explained by a newly described, deep salty current from the North Atlantic through the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.
