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.