A new black coral (Anthozoa: Antipatharia) from a reef wall environment in Jamaica

A new species of antipatharian coral is described from Jamaica. Antipathes rubusiformis forms sprawling colonies, which spread sideways beneath overhangs on steep cliffs below 20 m depth. Colonies are attached by multiple holdfasts that develop at the tips of recurved branches where they contact the substratum. Branches are thin, often curved and set at wide angles; branching is irregular. Axial spines are triangular, compressed, and finely papillose on the upper third of their surface. The species resembles Antipathes lenta, Pourtalès (1871), from which it differs by having longer, papillose spines and less regular branching, and Antipathes umbratica Opresko (1996), which forms more robust colonies with a single holdfast and longer spines.