''Antipathes dichotoma'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of colonial

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

in the order

Antipatharia Antipatharians, also known as black corals or thorn corals, are an order of soft deep-water corals. These corals can be recognized by their jet-black or dark brown chitin skeletons, which are surrounded by their colored polyps (part of coral th ...

, the black corals, so named because their calcareous skeletons are black. It was first described by the German zoologist and botanist

Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussia, Prussian zoologist, botanist, Ethnography, ethnographer, Exploration, explorer, Geography, geographer, Geology, geologist, Natura ...

in 1766, from a single specimen he received from near

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

Description

A colony of ''Antipathes dichotoma'' can grow to a height of or more. It forms a sparsely branching structure with slender, flexible branches arranged irregularly around the trunk. The angle at which the branches project is variable but is often nearly 90°. The smaller branches bear four to six rows of short, smooth conical spines. The polyps are in diameter with three or four polyps per centimetre. They are arranged in a single series on the smallest branches and in multiple series on the largest ones. There is considerable variation in appearance of neighbouring colonies and in different parts of the same colony.

Distribution

''Antipathes dichotoma'' occurs in the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the temperate western Atlantic Ocean. Its range includes waters off the coast of Marseilles, the

Gulf of Naples The Gulf of Naples (), also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9.3 mi) gulf located along the south-western coast of Italy (Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania region). It opens to the west into the Mediterranean ...

, the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

, the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

and off the coast of Morocco. It is a deep water species and is found at depths of . Where this species has been recorded as occurring in the Indo-Pacific region, it may have been misidentified. The black coral growing off Hawaii, for example, has been reclassified as '' Antipathes griggi''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4007485 Antipathidae Cnidarians of the Atlantic Ocean Fauna of the Mediterranean Sea Marine fauna of Africa Marine fauna of Europe Anthozoa of North Africa Bay of Biscay Tyrrhenian Sea Corals described in 1766 Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas