The first crinoid species described from the Southern Ocean were dredged during the Challenger expedition (1872–1876). Carpenter (1884, 1888) was the first crinoid expert to study the Southern Ocean crinoid fauna. Immediately following the Antarctic expeditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Clark (1915), Mortensen (1917), John (1938, 1939) and Clark & Clark (1967), among others, have substantially added to the known crinoid diversity in the Southern Ocean. More recently, Speel & Dearborn (1983) studied the comatulid specimens collected by the USNS Eltanin between 1962 and 1968. Marr (1963) gave the first overview of the comatulid species distribution on the Antarctic continental shelf, and Hedgepeth (1969) gave the first broad study of the crinoid biogeography in the Southern Ocean. Eléaume (2006) added substantially to this overview and produced the first comprehensive review of the comatulid diversity in the Southern Ocean. This review was updated by Améziane et al. (2011) for the Kerguelen Plateau, Hemery (2011) and Hemery et al. (2011, 2012). New crinoid species have been recently described and added to the known diversity by Eléaume et al. (2011, 2012), and Roux (in prep.) is currently revising the USNS Eltanin stalked crinoid collection