Bubble gum coral (Paragorgia arborea)

Classification (WoRMS)

Full classification as recorded by WoRMS: Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Cnidaria · Class: Octocorallia · Order: Scleralcyonacea · Family: Coralliidae · Genus: Paragorgia.

Accepted name: Paragorgia arborea · Authority: (Linnaeus, 1758) · Taxonomic status: accepted · AphiaID: 125418.

Synonyms and superseded combinations recorded for this taxon: Alcyonium arboreum Linnaeus, 1758; Briareum arboreum (Linnaeus, 1758); Dendridium arboreum (Linnaeus, 1758); Lobularia arborea (Linnaeus, 1758); Paragorgia nodosa Koren & Danielssen, 1883.

Source: World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=125418 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Biology and life history (SeaLifeBase)

Measured values published by SeaLifeBase for Paragorgia arborea. Only fields the database actually holds for this species are shown; these are database values, not aquarium guidance.

Depth range: 50–630 m · Habitat zone: reef-associated.

SeaLifeBase notes: Minimum depth range based on occurrence (Ref. 119612). Associated with parasitic copepods and polychaetes (Ref. 117450).

Source: SeaLifeBase species summary (SpecCode 44359) — https://www.sealifebase.se/summary/Paragorgia-arborea.html (CC BY-NC 3.0 — non-commercial use only). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Distribution and occurrence records (GBIF)

2,596,717 georeferenced occurrence records for Paragorgia arborea are published through GBIF from 21 countries or marine areas. The map above plots 6 distinct locations from a sample of 3,000 records, omitting 2 inland records that carry an institution's coordinates rather than a collection site; it shows where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.

Most records by country or area: Norway (2,499,487); United States of America (6,846); Canada (456); New Zealand (225); Australia (22).

The full country table, WoRMS marine regions and the sampling notes are on this species' Distribution page.

Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2262087) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2262087&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=125418 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Conservation status (IUCN Red List)

The IUCN Red List assesses Paragorgia arborea (Linnaeus, 1758) as Near Threatened (code NT). No trend, population estimate or threat analysis is given here, because none is available from this source without the Red List API; follow the source link for the full assessment, including its date.

Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (taxon 244922366) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/244922366/0; GBIF IUCN Red List category endpoint (taxonKey 2262087) — https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/2262087/iucnRedListCategory. Accessed 2026-09-23.

Description and natural history (Wikipedia)

Paragorgia arborea can grow to heights of 6 m, and are brightly colored white, red, or salmon, in a branching, fan-shaped structure with a tough central trunk and many branches. The branch tips are bulbous, giving this octocoral its common name of bubblegum coral. It has both specialized feeding polyps, autozoids, and specialized reproductive polyps, siphonozoids. Little is known about the growth rate and life span of P. arborea, but it has been found to have an average growth rate of 1cm/yr, with growth rates of 2-6cm/yr found in some cases, and is long-lived on the scale of decades.

Like other deep-water corals, little is known about the specific reproductive ecology of P. arborea. It is hypothesized that P. arborea is a brooder - fertilization takes place on or inside the female colony. Corals reproduce sexually by either spawning or brooding, but then once settled, corals reproduce asexually to grow into a many branched colony.

P. arborea is a filter feeder; it eats organic matter suspended in the current it lives in. It optimizes nutrient uptake by adjusting its behavior to the tidal cycle. When the tidal currents are coming in, coral polyps extend to actively feed on the organic matter being brought in with the tide. After the tide has gone out and the currents aren't bringing in as much organic matter, the coral polyps retract to digest the food or be inactive. Furthermore, P. arborea is often found growing in a concave shape facing into the current, which is a growth strategy thought to allow the coral to receive food more effectively.

Because it is difficult to access deep sea corals for study, relatively little is known about the microbiome of P. arborea. It has been found to have a host-specific microbiome and an external surface mucopolysaccharide layer (SML), which is a mucus that acts as a defense against water-borne pathogens and helps the coral filter feed. Alphaproteobacteria, Mycoplasmatota, and Spirochaetota are the main taxonomic groups of bacteria found in the P. arborea microbiome.

Paragorgia arborea is found between 30° and 70° latitude in both hemispheres. It is well established in the North Atlantic Ocean where it generally grows at depths between 200 and 1300 m and at temperatures between 3 and 8 C. It occurs along the entire Norwegian coast, and at depths of 40 m in Norwegian fjords, especially those with poor visibility and abundant planktonic life. In the Western Atlantic, it occurs in Nova Scotia waters including Oceanographer Canyon, off Georges Bank, the Grand Banks, Davis Strait, and southern Greenland. It is also found near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of Iceland.

P. arborea often grows on reefs created by the stony coral Lophelia pertusa. Like other gorgonians, it prefers exposed locations with strong currents. Thus, is most commonly found in marine canyons and on the continental slope, where the slope is steep. P. arborea prefers to grow on top of hard substrate that is a mixture of pebbles, boulders, and cobbles.

Paragorgia arborea is often associated with the Gorgon's Head basket star Gorgonocephalus caputmedusae, which uses it as a perch on which to catch plankton drifting past. It sometimes forms dense coral gardens with other octocorals, such as Primnoa resedaeformis, Paramuricea grandis and Keratoisis ornata and the sea pen Pennatula borealis. It is a foundation species, serving as a breeding ground, shelter, and feeding space for a wide variety species and increasing the species richness of the entire ecosystem.

Paragorgia arborea and other deep sea corals face a variety of anthropogenic threats to their conservation. Human activities that disturb the ocean bottom, including trawling by commercial fisheries, offshore oil extraction, deep sea mining, and cable laying, are the most prominent threats. Since P. arborea has a slow growth rate (~1cm/yr) and a fragile skeleton, it is particularly vulnerable to these threats. Destruction of P. arborea due to human disturbance will have effects that reverberate throughout multiple trophic levels in the deep-sea coral ecosystem and affect species richness because it is a foundation species. Ecological niche modeling under a worst-case climate change scenario predicts a high decline rate in the availability of suitable habitat for P. arborea, as well as no predicted refugia.

Source: Wikipedia: Paragorgia arborea — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragorgia_arborea (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.