Eudendrium ramosum: Ramil & Vervoort, 1992: 20–21; Schuchert, 2001: 32–33, fig. 20; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa, 2002: 37–38, fig. 7a–c; Bouillon et al., 2006: 60–61, figs 36H–L; Vervoort, 2006: 215–216, fig. 4 no. 2; Schuchert, 2012: 322–323, fig. 281.
Material examined. MAURIT-0911, stn MU DR01, 16º08´24”N, 16º57´12”W, 488 m, 5-XII-2009: 25 colonies, badly damaged, some attached to other hydroids and bryozoans.
MAURIT-1011, stn MU DR20, 16º08´11”N, 16º56´08”W, 405 m, 7-XII-2010: two colonies badly damaged, one colony attached to a sponge and the other attached to Sertularella gayi.
MSM 16 /3, stn GeoB 14802–1, BG, 20°14.791’N, 17°40.188’W, 595 m, 3-XI-2010: two colonies without gonozooids, attached to corals.
MSM 16 /3, stn GeoB 14886–1, ROV, 18°39.013’– 18°38.476’N, 16°43.580’– 16°43.757’W, 484–640 m, 12-XI- 2010: one colony 17 mm high with female gonophores, growing on Acesta excavata.
MSM 16 /3, stn GeoB 14905–1, CKG, 17°32.457’N, 16°39.997’W, 486 m, 15-XI-2010: one colony, without gonozooids.
Biology. This species grows on a wide variety of substrates, especially on hard substrata, algae and as epibiont on other invertebrates (Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002). Fertile material has been found from March to December (Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002; Schuchert 2012; Gil & Ramil 2017a).
In our material, some colonies were collected growing on the bivalve A. excavata and the hydroid S. gayi. Female gonophores were observed in November.
Distribution.Eudendrium ramosum was reported as a cosmopolitan species by Bouillon et al. (2006), but many of its records are considered doubtful (Ramil & Vervoort 1992; Marques et al. 2000; Schuchert 2001; Peña Cantero & García Carrascosa 2002). Schuchert (2012) indicated that all records outside the East Atlantic (Arctic to South Africa, including the Mediterranean) need confirmation. In West Africa, it was collected from Morocco (Ramil & Vervoort 1992; Vervoort 2006), Canary Islands (Vervoort 2006), Mauritania (Gil & Ramil 2017a) and Cape Verde (Ritchie 1907; Vervoort 2006). The bathymetrical distribution of the species extends from tidal areas (Ansín Agís 1992) to a depth of 1870 m (Ramil & Vervoort 1992).
The material studied by us was collected from depths of 484 to 640 m.
Remarks. The study of the nematocysts confirms that our material belongs to E. ramosum.