Higher Classification: > Kingdom Animalia > Subkingdom Eumetazoa > Phylum Cnidaria > Subphylum Anthozoa > Class Octocorallia > Order Scleralcyonacea > Superfamily Pennatuloidea > Family Virgulariidae > Genus Virgularia

Virgularia mirabilis (Müller, 1776)

Rank: Species
Taxon Status: accepted

Original genus

Pennatula Linnaeus, 1758

Relationships towards this taxon

Genus group names

*Virgularia*	Lamarck, 1816	accepted genus name

Vernaculars (+) (-)

English: common sea pen; elegant sea pen; sea rush; slender sea pen; slender sea-pen sources: Cole, T. C. H. (2017). Wörterbuch der Wirbellosen / Dictionary of Invertebrates. Latein-Deutsch-English. 2017. Springer Spektrum: Berlin. ISBN 978-3-662-52869-3. XII, 574 pp.;National General Status Working Group [Groupe de travail national sur la situation générale]. (2017). Standardized Common Names for Wild Species in Canada [Noms communs normalisés pour les espèces sauvages au Canada].;PESI (A Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) focal points

French: pennatule magnifique sources: National General Status Working Group [Groupe de travail national sur la situation générale]. (2017). Standardized Common Names for Wild Species in Canada [Noms communs normalisés pour les espèces sauvages au Canada].

German: Schmale Seefeder; Zauberhafte Seefeder

Literature

basis of record	Williams, G.C.; van der Land, J. (2001). Octocorallia - Pennatulacea. in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels 50: pp. 105-106.
additional source	Kükenthal, W. (1915). Pennatularia. Das Tierreich. 43: 1-132.
additional source	Kükenthal, W.; Broch, H. (1911). Pennatulacea. Wissensch. Ergebn. Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition "Valdivia". 13(1), 2: i-iv + 113-576, plates 13-29.
additional source	Williams G.C. (1995). Living genera of sea pens (Coelenterata: Pennatulacea): illustrated key and synopses. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 113, pp. 93-140.
additional source	López-González, P. J.; Gili, J. M.; Williams, G. C. (2001). New records of Pennatulacea (Anthozoa: Octocorallia) from the African Atlantic coast, with description of a new species and a zoogeographic analysis. Scientia Marina. 65(1), 59-74.
additional source	Williams, G.C. (1990). The Pennatulacea of southern Africa (Coelenterata, Anthozoa). Annals of the South African Museum. Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. 99:31-119.
additional source	Hayward, P.J. & J.S. Ryland (Eds.). (1990). The marine fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe: 1. Introduction and protozoans to arthropods. Clarendon Press: Oxford, UK. 627 pp.
additional source	Deichmann, E. (1936). The Alcyonaria of the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College. 53: 1-317, plates 1-37.
additional source	Williams, G.C. (1999). Index Pennatulacea: annotated bibliography and indexes of the Sea Pens (Coelenterata: Octocorallia) of the World 1469-1999. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 51(2): 19-103, 1 fig., 14 plates.
additional source	Bayer, F. M. (1952). New Western Atlantic records of octocorals (Coelenterata: Anthozoa), with descriptions of three new species. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 42(6): 183-189.
additional source	Williams, G.C. (1999). Index Pennatulacea: annotated bibliography and indexes of the Sea Pens (Coelenterata: Octocorallia) of the World 1469-1999. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. 51(2): 19-103.
additional source	Cairns, S.D., and Bayer, F.M., 2009. Octocorallia (Cnidaria) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 321–331 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.
additional source	Thomson, J. A. (1929). Alcyonaires des environs de Monaco et de localités diverses. Bulletin de l'Institut Océanographique (Monaco), (534): 1-10
additional source	Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
additional source	Tixier-Durivault, A.; d'Hondt, M-J. (1974). Nouvelles recoltes d'Octocoralliaires a Madagascar. Tethys. 5(2-3): 251-266.
additional source	Williams, G. C. (1995). Revision of the pennatulacean genus Sarcoptilus (Coelenterata: Octocorallia), with descriptions of three new species from southern Australia. Records of the South Australian Museum. 28(1), 13-32.
additional source	Thomson, J.A.; Henderson, W.D. (1906). The marine fauna of Zanzibar and British East Africa, from collections made by Cyril Crossland, M.A., B.Sc., F.Z.S., in the years 1901 and 1902 -- Alcyonaria. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1906, 393-442, plates 26-31.
additional source	Williams, G.C. (1992). Biogeography of the octocorallian coelenterate fauna of southern Africa. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 46: 351-401.
additional source	Tixier-Durivault, A. (1961). Les Octocoralliaires du Golfe de Guinee et des Iles de Cap-Vert (Alcyonacea, Pennatulacea). Annales de l'Institut oceanographique, Monaco. 39: 237-262.
additional source	Jungersen, H.F.E. (1904). Pennatulida. The Danish Ingolf-Expedition. 5(1): 1-95, plates 1-3.
additional source	Imahara, Y.; Ogawa, K. (2006). Rediscovery of Virgularia juncea (Octocorallia, Pennatulacea) from a tidal marsh in Okinawa, with a short note on its peculiar behavior. Proceedings of the Tenth International Coral Reef Symposium, 9-13

Genbank

External Links

Marine Life Information Network - UK

Citation

McFadden, C.S.; Cordeiro, R.; Samimi-Namin, K.; Williams, G.; van Ofwegen, L. (2025). World List of Octocorallia. Virgularia mirabilis (Müller, 1776). Via: Costello, M.J.; Bouchet, P.; Boxshall, G.; Arvantidis, C.; Appeltans, W. (2011) European Register of Marine Species, Accessed through PESI at http://www.eu-nomen.eu/portal/taxon.php?GUID=urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:128539