A new species of Nidalia Gray, 1835 from Mid-Atlantic seamounts (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Nidaliidae)

Abstract

A new soft coral species of the genus Nidalia, from seamounts to the south of the Azores Archipelago is described. The main features of Nidalia aurantia n. sp. are as following: colony torch-like, a capitulum light orange in colour, not laterally Xattened, dome-shaped and not distinctly projecting beyond the stalk, an introvert with sparse sclerites transversally placed, and an anthocodial crown with 13–17 sclerite rows. The new species is compared with its closest congeners. This is the Wrst time that a species of Nidalia has been located in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean.