Antipathes grandiflora Silberfeld, 1909

Lam, Katherine & Morton, Brian, 2008, Soft corals, sea fans, gorgonians (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) and black and wire corals (Ceriantipatharia: Antipatharia) from submarine caves in Hong Kong with a checklist of local species and a description of a new species of Paraminabea, Journal of Natural History 42 (9 - 12), pp. 749-780 : 769

Antipathes grandiflora Silberfeld, 1909

( Figure 6 )

Antipathes grandiflora Silberfeld, 1909:26

Antipathes grandiflora Wright & Studer, 1889:291 ; Okutani, 1994:46, fig. 4

Description

Slender colony branching in all directions at angles of between 30 ° –90 °. Distances among branches vary between a few mm to 30 mm. Branch length up to 100 mm, branches either slender and curved or sinuous. Axis thin, flexible and black. Triangular spines arise vertically or sub-vertically to the axis. Smooth, distal side of spines usually steeper than the proximal. Spines arranged in 4–5 longitudinal rows along branches with more rows on the older parts. Polyps, in one series, usually lie on different sides of the colony. Oral cone large, swollen. Mouth small and round or slightly transversely elongate.

Type locality

Japan.

Distribution

Japan, Hong Kong.

Remarks

New record for Hong Kong ( Figure 3 ) from Conic Island Cave.

Figures

Figure 3. Living specimens of octocorals belonging to the Acanthogorgiidae and Plexauridae. A, Acanthogorgia vegae; B, Anthogorgia divaricata; C, Muricella sp.; D, Astrogorgia sinensis and E, Menella indica. Scale bar52 cm.

Figure 6. Junceella juncea (front) and Antipathes grandiflora (back) in Conic Island Cave.