In deep-sea, benthic environments there is an associative relationship between octocorals and brittle stars. Due to the currents flowing upward along seamount ridges, atop these ridges there are colonies of suspension feeding corals and sponges, and brittle stars that grip tight to them and get up off the sea floor. A specific documented commensal relationship is between the ophiuran Ophiocreas oedipus Lyman and the octocoral primnoid Metallogorgia melanotrichos.
In deep-sea benthic environments there is an associative relationship between octocorals and brittle stars. Due to the currents flowing upward along seamount ridges atop these ridges there are colonies of suspension feeding corals and sponges, and brittle stars that grip tight to them and get up off the sea floor. A specific documented commensal relationship is between the ophiuran Ophiocreas oedipus Lyman and the octocoral primnoid Metallogorgia melanotrichos.