Echinomuricea indica Thomson & Simpson, 1909

Ramvilas, Ghosh, Alderslade, Philip & Ranjeet, Kutty, 2023, The taxonomy of Indian gorgonians: an assessment of the descriptive records of gorgonians (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) recorded as occurring in the territorial waters of India, along with neighbouring regions and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the highlighting of perceived unethical practice, Zootaxa 5236 (1), pp. 1-124 : 57

Echinomuricea indica Thomson & Simpson, 1909

Echinomuricea indica Thomson & Simpson, 1909: 204–205 , pl. 3, fig. 2 & pl. 8, fig. 4 (Arakan coast).

Opinion: This species does occur in the region.

Justification:

These Indian records are either unconfirmable or seem to be invalid: Thomas & George 1986: 104, fig. 1i, 1–5 (SW and SE coast); Thomas & Jacob 1987: 23, fig. 1.G, fig. 2.A (Gulf of Mannar); Thomas & George 1990: 420, pl. 1H, fig. 1d 1–4; Thomas et al. 1995: 138 (NE coast); Mary & Lazarus 2004: 35–36, figs. 8&9 (SW coast); Varghese et al. 2007: 15, fig. 3 (SE coast).

These Indian records appear be valid: Kumar et al. 2014a: 78, pl. 36, fig. A–C (Havelock); Fernando et al. 2017: 95, pl. 24, fig A–C (Havelock).

Literature analysis: Thomas & George (1987) just include the species in a list of gorgonians used commercially, but the specimen described by Thomas & Jacob (1987) was clearly a species of Echinogorgia . Thomas & George (1990) described a specimen that appears to be an Echinomuricea with a similar colony form to E. indica , but it is hard to compare their rough outline drawings with those in the original description. Thomas et al. (1995) reported another occurrence of the species but referred to the 1987 Thomas & George publication mentioned above. Mary & Lazarus (2004) presented an Echinogorgia species using the same rough sclerite drawings as in Thomas & Jacob (1987) and Varghese et al. (2007) illustrated a reticulate fan that is probably an Echinogorgia . Kumar et al. (2014a) and Fernando et al. (2017) use some of the original text of Thomson & Simpson (1909) to describe their specimen and most probably had this species.