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Type: Articles
Published: 2013-03-19
Page range: 198–199
Abstract views: 26
PDF downloaded: 1

The World’s largest known Gorgonian

Department of Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Department of Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, NZ
Marine Conservation Institute, Seattle, WA 98103, USA
Coelenterata Gorgonian

Abstract

Gorgonians in the deep sea can be much larger than their shallow water counterparts, but there are only a few scattered measurements. We have estimated the size of a chrysogorgiid gorgonian, Iridogorgia magnispiralis Watling 2007, observed from a submersible on Twin Banks in theNorthwest Hawaiian Islands, as being 5.7 m tall.

References

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    ht
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    Devaney, D.M. (1977) Octocorallia. In Devaney, D.M. & Eldredge, L.G. (Eds) , Reef and Shore Fauna of Hawaii, Section 1: Protozoa through Ctenophora. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication 64(1), pp. 119–129.

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    Watling, L. (2007) A review of the genus Iridogorgia (Octocorallia: Chrysogorgiidae) and its relatives, chiefly from the North Atlantic Ocean. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87, 393–402.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S002531540705535X

    Watling, L., France, S.C., Pante, E. & Simpson, A. (2011) Biology of deep water octocorals. Advances in Marine Biology 60, 41–122.