Overview

• The peer-reviewed study details Iridogorgia chewbacca and a second new species, Iridogorgia curva, in a taxonomic analysis published in Zootaxa.
• Researchers first recorded I. chewbacca off Molokaʻi in 2006 and later near the Mariana Trench in 2016, with specimens measuring roughly four feet and 20 inches tall.
• I. chewbacca features long, hairlike, flexible branches that can reach about 15 inches, forms colonies of thousands of polyps, and typically occurs as solitary colonies on rocky deep-sea bottoms.
• The authors report unexpectedly high diversity of the genus Iridogorgia in the tropical western Pacific, with 10 species documented in the region.
• University of Hawaiʻi researcher Les Watling helped recognize the species from expedition footage, and coverage notes broader threats to corals from warming, acidification, and pollution.