Chrysogorgia multiflora Deichmann, 1936

Cordeiro, Ralf T. S., Castro, Clovis B. & Pérez, Carlos D., 2015, Deep-water octocorals (Cnidaria: Octocorallia) from Brazil: Family Chrysogorgiidae Verrill, 1883, Zootaxa 4058 (1), pp. 81-100 : 85-87

Chrysogorgia multiflora Deichmann, 1936

( Fig. 2 F)

Chrysogorgia fewkesi var. multiflora Deichmann, 1936: 231 , Pl. 22, Fig. 6 , Pl. 23, Figs. 51–52.—Bayer, 1951: 272.—Bayer, 1959: 27–29, Fig. 13a–i.

? Chrysogorgia quadruplex: Grasshoff, 1981: 223 .

Chrysogorgia multiflora: Cairns, 2001: 767 –769, Figs. 7–8 .

Types: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, MCZ 4854.

Type locality: 13°10'10"N, 61°18'15"W (off southwestern St. Vincent, Lesser Antilles), 1048 m depth.

Material examined: MNRJ 1829, 01°52'N, 46°54'W, off mouth of the Amazon River, 320 m depth; MOUFPE-CNI 200, 04°41’45”S, 36°31’10”W, Potiguar Basin, 375–408 m depth (6 colonies).

Diagnosis (based on Cairns 2001): Colonies bottlebrush, wiry, to 25 cm in height with branching sequence 2/ 5R. Distance between branches 1–4 mm, orthorstiche interval 6–22 mm. First internode 10–14 mm long, usually with 2–4 polyps. Internodes per branch 4–9, usually 5. Body wall of polyps with curved spindles transversely arranged, spindle length to 1.08 mm. Coenenchymal elongate plates to 0.77 mm long. Tentacular sclerites longitudinally arranged, curved spindles, but usually shorter (to 0.86 mm). Pinnular sclerites finely granular, often medially-constricted, rectangular scales to 0.20 mm long.

Remarks: Since Bayer (1959), there have been no new record of C. multiflora in the South Atlantic. Here, its latitudinal distribution is expanded to the south by approximately three degrees (~ 1400 km).

Distribution: Florida, Bahamas, Lesser Antilles and Brazil, from the Amazonas River mouth (Bayer, 1959) to the Potiguar Basin, Rio Grande do Norte State; 320–1280 m depth.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Deep-water Chrysogorgiidae from Brazil. A: holotype of Chrysogorgia upsilonia sp. nov. (MNRJ 6016); B: holotype of Chrysogorgia tuberculata sp. nov. (MNRJ 8565); C: Chrysogorgia multiflora Deichmann, 1936 (MOUFPE-CNI 147); D: Paratype of Chrysogorgia upsilonia (MNRJ 6016); E: juvenile colony of Chrysogorgia fewkesi Verrill, 1883 (MNRJ 6703); F: adult colony of C. fewkesi (MOUFPE-CNI 148); G: Chrysogorgia elegans (MNRJ 6785); H: holotype of Radicipes kopelatos sp. nov. (MNRJ 8566). Scale bars: 10 mm.

FIGURE 6. Sclerites of Chrysogorgia upsilonia sp. nov. (MNRJ 6016). A: polyp view; B: spindles from body wall; C: coenenchymal scales; D: tentacular scales. Scale bars: A: 1.0 mm; B: 0.05 mm; C – D: 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Drawing of the variability of sclerites of Chrysogorgia upsilonia sp. nov. A: spindles from body wall; B: coenenchymal scales; C: tentacular scales. Scale bars: A: 0.05 mm; B – C: 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Sclerites of Radicipes kopelatos sp. nov. (MNRJ 8566, holotype). A, C: rods from polyp body wall and coenenchyme, respectively; B: tentacular scales; D: scales from polyp adaxial side; E, F: coenenchymal flattened scales with median waist. Scale bars: A – E: 0.19 mm; F: 0.70 mm.