Six new species of Hexactinellida are described from hard bottom communities of shelf, canyon and seamounts of the west
coast of North America: Washington, British Columbia and Gulf of Alaska. They were collected by a variety of methods,
trawl, manned submersible, and robot submersible, and hence vary greatly in condition. The six species comprise additions
to five different families of the subclass Hexasterophora, Farreidae (Farrea omniclavata sp. nov. and F. truncata sp. nov.),
Euretidae (Chonelasma oreia sp. nov.), Euplectellidae (Amphidiscella lecus sp. nov.), Leucopsacidae (Oopsacas olympicus
sp. nov.) and Rossellidae (Acanthascus malacus sp. nov.). These additions represent an increase of 29% to the known
species of Hexactinellida in this area. A completely unique form of defended tabulate stalk is described for A. lecus. The species Chauoplectella spinifera is transferred to Oopsacas.