Paragorgia stephencairnsi Sanchez , 2005

Horvath, Elizabeth Anne, 2019, A review of gorgonian coral species (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Alcyonacea) held in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History research collection: focus on species from Scleraxonia, Holaxonia, and Calcaxonia - Part I: Introduction, species of Scleraxonia and Holaxonia (Family Acanthogorgiidae), ZooKeys 860, pp. 1-66 : 1

Paragorgia stephencairnsi Sanchez, 2005

Paragorgia stephencairnsi Sánchez, 2005: 57-60; figs 39-41.

Material examined.

No material in SBMNH collection (see Appendix 1: List of material examined).

Remarks.

A paratype specimen at NMNH (USNM 94437), identified as this species, was collected in proximity of the southern California Channel Islands, in an area lying close to the western boundary of the California Bight; range seems to extend northward to an area off British Columbia, Canada (location data for USNM 57982, the holotype; discussed in Sánchez 2005). As this species was named in honor of Dr Stephen Cairns of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian, it would be fitting to call this “Stephen’s bubblegum tree." Any similarities between this and other species in the genus were thoroughly discussed in Sánchez (2005).