Key to Families of Shallow Water (0-200m) Octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight

Suborder Alcyoniina- Couplet 8

8a. – Colonies non-branching, torch-like or clavate, with long, stiff, fleshy stalk. Sclerites long, slender, 6 times longer than wide

...............................................Family Nidaliidae
Nidalia occidentalis Gray, 1835

Nidalia occidentalis

8b. – Colonies arborescent with polyp clusters at terminal ends. Sclerites are foliated clubs and tuberculate rods

..........................................Family Nephtheidae
Pseudodrifa nigra (Pourtalès, 1868)

Pseudodrifa nigra