Chrysogorgiidae is a family of soft corals, commonly known as “golden corals,” which stand out in the deep-sea thanks to their eye-catching iridescent displays.
And one Chrysogorgiidae coral species, from the family Iridogorgia, has finally been added to the scientific record after scattered sightings in rocky ocean bottoms off the Hawaiian island of Molokaʻi in 2006 and the Mariana Trench in 2016.
Les Watling, professor emeritus at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s School of Life Sciences, recorded the findings on September 4 after reviewing research from colleagues at the Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao, China.
“Seeing this coral for the first time was unforgettable,” Watling said in an interview with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. “Its long, flexible branches and shape immediately reminded me of Chewbacca.”
Despite its uncanny resemblance to the 7-foot-tall Wookie, once described by Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia as a “big, walking carpet,” the newly discovered Iridogorgia chewbacca does not actually have hair.
Rather, it has a shiny framework of long, flexible branches that resemble flowing locks of hairy tendrils.
The Chewbacca coral ranges in size: The creature first spotted near Molokaʻi in 2006 was roughly 4 feet in length, while the Mariana Trench specimen was 20 inches.
Like other coral species, soft corals in the Iridogorgia genus are filter feeders, capturing food particles known as “marine snow” that drift down from the ocean’s surface.
In turn, the coral then processes those nutrients and transfers them to organisms living along the ocean floor.
Their overflowing, tree-like structures also play host to smaller sea creatures — including shrimp, feather stars, and lobsters — that live among their branches.
Although the Chewbacca coral is making headlines due to its memorable name, Watling and his peers confirmed three additional new species in their research: Iridogorgia curva, Iridogorgia fontinalis, and Iridogorgia splendens — the latter two being species specific to the Western Pacific Ocean.
“There are currently fourteen species of Iridogorgia with twelve species in the Pacific,” Watling explained in the study, which was published in the scientific journal Zootaxa. “Among them, 10 species were found in the tropical western Pacific, showing a high diversity.”
Watling took pride in his research, which drew from his early career working in Hawaii’s waters.
“Even after years of deep-sea work, discoveries like this still make me stop and take notice.”
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Header image via Xu Y 2025 Zootaxa via Unversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
