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Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

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Peer-reviewed publication

Deep-water Octocorallia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) of the temperate Northern Pacific: Notes on the distribution and new bathyal-abyssal taxa from the Sea of Okhotsk

The published data about the deep-water octocoral fauna of the cold temperate Northwest Pacific (particularly Far East seas) remains scarce and mostly presented in a few papers published before 1970. This paper gives a list of Octocorallia collected from the Kuril Basin of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bussol Strait in 2015 during the SokhoBio 2015 expedition. The present paper records seven species, of which three new deep-sea octocoral species and two new genera are described: Ignis rubeus gen. et sp. nov. attributed to the family Haimeidae, Aspera rosea gen. et sp. nov. attributed to the family Nephtheidae, and Radicipes sakhalinensis sp. nov. of the family Chrysogorgiidae. Distinctive characters for each new taxon are provided and depicted with scanning electron microscopy imaging. The present finding of previously undescribed species emphasizes the need for further surveys, particularly in shelf and deeper waters, in order to improve knowledge of this neglected fauna in Far East seas. The diversity and distribution of deep-water Octocorallia in the temperate Northwest Pacific are discussed based on the published literature and own data.