Having now fully explored the Malacalcyonacea Part 1 and Part 2, it’s time to turn our attention to its sister group, the order Scleralcyonacea. These clades are roughly equivalent in terms of species-level diversity, but whereas the malacalcyonaceans included many…
The New Octocorallia: Malacalcyonacea Part 2
In our previous installment of this series, we met with a diverse array of Soft Corals and Gorgonians, including most of the species familiar to aquarists. Amongst these were a hodgepodge of ex-Scleraxonia, ex-Stolonifera, and ex-Alcyonacea genera, now all lumped…
The New Octocorallia: Malacalcyonacea Part 1
In our previous review of octocoral classification, we saw that anywhere from 3–8 orders have traditionally been used to organize this group’s bewildering biodiversity, based on morphological assumptions of increasing complexity within the evolutionary history of these corals. It was…
The New Octocorallia: A Brief Review of Taxonomic Chaos
Soft Corals, Gorgonians, and Sea Pens comprise the Octocorallia, a major branch in the coral tree of life whose 3000+ species come in nearly every shape imaginable. Not surprisingly, this biodiversity has confounded taxonomists for centuries, resulting in no shortage…
