Four New Records of Dendronephthya Species (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea: Nephtheidae) from Korea

Abstract

Soft corals were collected from the subtidal zone in the coastal regions of Jejudo Island between 1975 and 2010. By the taxonomic work on them, three species in the subgenus Dendronephthya (Dendronephthya) and one species in the subgenus Dendronephthya (Roxasia) of family Nephtheidae were newly added to Korean fauna: Dendronephthya (Dendronephthya) aurea Utinomi, 1952, Dendronephthya (D.) koellikeri Kukenthal, 1905, Dendronephthya (D.) mucronata (Putter, 1900), and Dendronephthya (Roxasia) decussatospinosa Utinomi, 1952. These species are mainly distributed on the rocky substratum at the southern coast from 10 and 32 m. As a result of this study thirteen species in the genus Dendronephthya have been reported from Korean waters until now.

Keywords

• Octocorallia
• Alcyonacea
• Nephtheidae
• Dendronephthya (Dendronephthya)
• Dendronephthya (Roxasia)