Stephanogorgia faulkneri (Bayer, 1974)  

From Bauer and Muzik, 1976: 

Stephanogorgia faulkneri (Bayer) comb. nov. ( figs. 2D-E, 3A, 5; 1'1. 2)Trichogorgia faulkneri Bayer, 1974: 263, figs. 2, 3A-C; pI. 3.

Diagnosis. - Stephanogorgia with undivided terminal branchlets up to 35 mm long, mostly 15-20 mm; main axis distinctly bent at each branch origin; polyps 12-14 per centimeter of branchlet length; sclerites up to 0.12 mm long, 0.02 mm wide, scattered in incomplete layer in polyp body; backs of tentacles with a tract of obliquely placed minute rods.

Discussion. - In the original description of this species, the distance between branches was expressed as the distance between branches along one side of a main branch (Bayer, 1974: 266) . If the distance between successive branchlets is measured instead, it represents internodal length. In 68 measurements, this ranges from 1.7 to 5.3 mm, with an average of 304 mm; 66% of the measurements are from 2 mm to 4 mm, and 3S % from 2 nun to 3 mm. Many underwater photographs, as well as actual specimens, indicate that Stephanogorgia faulkneri reaches a larger size than does S. wainwrighti. There also is some indication that colonies of S. faulkneri tend to be tall and narrow in outline, whereas S . wainwrighti is shorter and broader, but this character would certainly be subject to local circumstances and may have no significance at all.

Commensals. - Preserved specimens of S. faulkneri may have specimens of a small brittlestar attached, and photographs of living colonies show that some are heavily infested. Dr. Lowell P. Thomas has kindly identified theseas a species of Ophiothela (family Ophiotrichidae).