**Acknowledgements**

Acknowledgements are due to IMAR—Marine Institute, Research and Development Unit #531 in the Azores (Thematic Area E) and Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) through the funding program FCOMP‐01‐0124‐FEDER‐007376 and the pluri‐annual and programmatic funding schemes—OE‐FEDER‐POCI2001‐FSE and PEst project—OE/EEI/ LA0009/2011–2014. We also acknowledge the Regional Government of the Azores and Its Science and Technology Directorate through the pluri‐annual funding scheme and its funding support through the Operational Program PROCONVERGENCIA 2007‐20013 under the aus‐ pices of the European Union Regional strategic fund FEDER and through the research grant IBBA M2.1.2/I/029/2008‐BioDeepSea awarded to RB. The Luso‐American Foundation FLAD research grants project 600‐08/2016 and project L‐V‐173/2006; the Fulbright Commission through the Fulbright Research Scholar grant awarded to RB (2005‐2006) are also acknowledged. This work also received the support from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, through the strategic research fund UID/MAR/04292/2013 granted to MARE‐Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre; through the research grant IMUNOVENT PTDC/MAR/65991/2006 awarded to RB; through the research grants DEEPFUN‐PTDC/MAR/111749/2009 and FCOMP‐OE/EEI/ LA0009/2011) awarded to AC; through the post‐doctoral scholarship SFRH/BDP/14896/2004 awarded to RB; through the post‐doctoral scholarship SFRH/BPD/73481/2010 awarded to IM; through the doctoral scholarships SFRH/BD/689511/2010, and EM SFRH/BD/73152/2010 awarded to EM and IB, respectively. The Azorean Science and Technology Directorate doc‐ toral scholarship M3.1.2/F/052/2011 granted to TC is acknowledge. RB was also supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through CIÊNCIA‐2007 Research contract (2008‐2013). AC was supported by the Program Investigador FCT‐IF/00029/2014/CP1230/CT0002 from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia.
