The study by MacKay and others (in press) supersedes the generalized review by McClurg (1988), based on limited sampling in the same geographic area, and appears to be the only study of its kind in the WIO, and for which results are available. The proximity of a semi-permanent upwell-ingcell and a large river mouth (Lutjeharms 2000), together with their relatively high latitude, probably mean that the soft sediment shelf habitats differ from those further north, with implications for the benthic macrofaunal community composition. Having said this, it is, however, notable that there are marked similarities in some of the larger demersal shelf fauna found in several countries of the region.