Paragorgia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857

JUAN ARMANDO SÁNCHEZ, 2005, Systematics of the bubblegum corals (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Paragorgiidae) with description of new species from New Zealand and the Eastern Pacific, Zootaxa 1014, pp. 1-72 : 15

Genus Paragorgia Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857

Diagnostic characters. Paragorgiidae with axial medulla of unfused spindles up to 0.6 mm in length; other sclerites less than 0.15 mm in length. Different kinds of sclerites in the autozooid polyp tentacles, cortex surface, medulla, and subsurface/outer medulla. Surface sclerites are 6 to 8 radiates, always less than 0.1 mm in length, with globular, smooth, grooved or lobulated ornaments. Medulla sclerites are ornate spindles usually less than 0.8 mm in length. Intermediate forms between radiates and spindles in the subsurface/outer medulla. Scleritic medulla perforated at terminal branches with 3–7 main canals, and numerous smaller canals occurring both in the medulla and subsurface/outer medulla (see details in Verseveldt, 1940). Autozooid polyp tentacles with distinctive blunt, stubby rods or ovals usually less than 0.1 mm.