Review and five new Alaskan species of the deep‐water octocoralNarella(Octocorallia: Primnoidae)

Five new species of the octocorallian primnoid genus Narella are described from seven seamounts in the Gulf of Alaska, the first records of this genus from the region between Japan and the Galapagos, and including the deepest record of the genus at 4594 m. All species are illustrated with SEM of their sclerites, often with stereo pairs of the polyps. A list of the 32 valid species of Narella is given. DNA sequence analysis using the mitochondrial genes ND6 and msh1 was determined for all five species and outgroups, but little to no variation was found among the five morphospecies, consistent with the known slow rate of evolution of the mitochondrial genes in Octocorallia.