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Type: Article
Published: 2018-11-20
Page range: 112–120
Abstract views: 60
PDF downloaded: 1

Another unusual new gorgonian (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Plexauridae) from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska

Westmont College, Department of Biology, 955 La Paz Road, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108, USA.
Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Auke Bay Laboratories, 17109 Point Lena Loop Road, Juneau, Alaska, 99801, USA
Coelenterata Taxonomy new species cold-water coral subarctic Aleutian Islands

Abstract

An unusual new species of plexaurid octocoral, Alaskagorgia splendicitrina, is described from a specimen collected in the far west Aleutian Island Archipelago, Alaska, USA. Unusual features that separate it from its only congener include: the vibrant yellow color of the live colony and an arborescent growth form with numerous coiling and twisting branches, the pale yellow color of the sclerites and the lack of small and densely warted double-headed sclerites. The new species is represented by only a single specimen despite extensive sampling in the region during the past several decades; the speculation is that it radiated from the much less explored region to the west.

 

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