Paragorgia regalis Nutting, 1912

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 regalis Nutting, 1912

Paragorgia regalis Nutting, 1912: 100. Sánchez 2005: 25-29.

Paragorgia dendroides Bayer, 1956b: 69 [sensu Bayer 1964a: 526]. Grasshoff 1979: 120.

Material examined.

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

Remarks.

Inclusion of P. regalis is based on USNM 1027063, which was collected just west of the California Channel Islands, in proximity to western boundary edge of Bight. Moss Landing Marine Labs may have a representative sample of this species in their collection, from Monterey Bay Canyon, 36°25'54"N, 122°00'03"W, ~900 m; coll. D Rold and H King, December 1978; C0074 [wet]. It is possible that some of the Paragorgia seen in MBARI video segments could be this species; this species may have been seen when examination of samples of gorgonian collected by J Barry (MBARI) was done, made available for examination by Lonny Lundsten. Distribution ranges across the Pacific Ocean (based on collection records for specimens in NMNH). Collection depths in Hawaii and Japan range from 452-1840 m ( Sánchez 2005), and as noted from NMNH collection. For a common name, this species might be called the "Regal bubblegum tree."