Antipathes furcata Gray, 1857

Lima, Manuela M., Cordeiro, Ralf T. S. & Perez, Carlos D., 2019, Black Corals (Anthozoa: Antipatharia) from the Southwestern Atlantic, Zootaxa 4692 (1), pp. 1-67 : 8

Antipathes furcata Gray, 1857

Fig. 35

Antipathes furcata Gray, 1857: 291 ; Schultze, 1903:92; Opresko, 1974: 60–67, fig. 2; Loiola & Castro, 2001: 2–4, figs 2, 3, 4; Opresko, 2003: 487, fig. 3d; Opresko & Sanchez, 2005: 497, fig. 4; Molodtsova, 2006: 148.

Type and type locality. BMNH 1843.2.6 or 8 (holotype, see Opresko, 2003), Madeira, depth unknown .

Diagnosis. “Small colonies (less than ~ 20 cm in height) fan-shaped, branched mostly in one plane; with very long, straight, ascending branches. Larger colonies (20–40 cm in height) densely branched, in a thick plane with numerous overlapping branches. Branches directed upward and away from the centre, with most reaching to the top of the corallum; branch angles very narrow, 30° or less. Spines short, triangular, smooth, 0.05–0.1 mm tall and 0.07– 0.1 mm wide at their base; arranged in 6–8 rows with 30–40 spines per centimeter in each row. Spines occasionally bifid or forked. Polyps 0.7–1.0 mm in transverse diameter; arranged in a single series on one side of branches; 6–8 polyps per centimeter. Colonies white in color when alive.” ( Opresko & Sanchez, 2005).

Distribution. Madeira Island ( Gray, 1857), Caribbean Sea ( Opresko, 1974; Opresko & Sanchez, 2005), and Brazil (fig. 35) ( Loiola & Castro, 2001); from 15 m, in Caribbean Sea ( Opresko & Sanchez, 2005) to 2480 m, in Northeastern Atlantic ( Molodtsova, 2006).

Figures

FIGURE 35. Geographic distribution of antipatharians species occurring in the Southwestern Atlantic not analyzed in the present work.