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Antipathes

Antipathes

Pallas, 1766

GBIF:177006777

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ABOUT

Descriptions(1)

The genus Antipathes is the first to have been established (Pallas 1766). It is characterized by colonies that are branched, bramble-like, bushy or fan-shaped (Opresko 1972, 1974). The branches are not pinnulate and the polyps occur in a single row on smaller branches. The spines can be smooth or papillose, simple or forked, multilobed or knobbed at the apex. There are currently about 70 nominal species (Opresko 2019), 36 from the Pacific and Indian Oceans, out of which 13 have their type species lost. New species are still being described, which is why it is difficult to determine the exact number of species belonging in the genus Antipathes.
Terrana, Lucas, Bo, Marzia, Opresko, Dennis M., Eeckhaut, Igor (2020): Shallow-water black corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Antipatharia) from SW Madagascar. Zootaxa 4826 (1): 1-62, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4826.1.1

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CLASSIFICATION

Taxonomic Classification Tree

AnimaliaCnidariaAnthozoaAntipathariaAntipathidaeAntipathes

Occurrences with images

Source Information

Shallow-water black corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Antipatharia) from SW Madagascar

checklist

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Terrana, Lucas, Bo, Marzia, Opresko, Dennis M., Eeckhaut, Igor (2020): Shallow-water black corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Antipatharia) from SW Madagascar. Zootaxa 4826 (1): 1-62, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4826.1.1

Abstract

Antipatharians, also known as black corals, represent a small group of anthozoan hexacorallians found in all oceans of the world. They are generally considered a deep-water taxon; however, some of the most diverse communities are known from tropical shallow waters. With a few poorly detailed exceptions, shallow-water black corals from the Indian Ocean and especially those from Madagascar are mostly unknown. In this study, we report for the first time a highly diverse black coral assemblage of the Western Indian Ocean thriving in shallow waters and upper mesophotic depths (10–52 m depth) along the SW coast of Madagascar. A total of 22 species belonging to six genera (Antipathes, Arachnopathes, Cirrhipathes, Cupressopathes, Myriopathes and Stichopathes) and two families (Antipathidae and Myriopathidae) are described, of which 20 are found in the northern pass of the Great Reef of Toliara, thus representing the most diverse site of the areas investigated. Most of the shallow-water species from the Indian Ocean were originally described more than a century ago, sometimes without being reported again until now. All the descriptions herein rely solely on morphology and include detailed in situ pictures and scanning electron microscope images, in addition to range expansions for many species.

Terrana L, Bo M, Opresko D M, Eeckhaut I, plazi (2020). Shallow-water black corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Antipatharia) from SW Madagascar. Plazi.org taxonomic treatments database. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4826.1.1 accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-06-16.

CC0Published 8/10/2020View dataset
GBIF Usage Key
177006777
Dataset Key
2bf4f379-5024-4616-b7b7-a48103cb63bf
Origin
source
Backbone Key
2258096
Taxon ID
F576878793654269FF4CFB90FBFCFA92.taxon
Last Crawled
6/10/2026
Last Interpreted
6/10/2026
View on GBIFSource Reference