Ellisella paraplexauroides

Ellisella paraplexauroides is a vulnerable gorgonian considered among the largest colonial invertebrates of the Mediterranean Sea.^[2]

Ellisella paraplexauroides
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Subphylum:	Anthozoa
Class:	Octocorallia
Order:	Scleralcyonacea
Family:	Ellisellidae
Genus:	Ellisella
Species:	E. paraplexauroides
Binomial name
Ellisella paraplexauroides Stiasny, 1936

It has an unusual restricted and uneven distribution, with isolated and extremely sparse colonies in a few sites in the Alboran Sea, the coasts of Algeria and Tunisia, and in the Strait of Sicily,^[2] with an exceptionally dense and rich population around the Natura 2000 site on Chafarinas Islands, where its colonies make a unique seascape.^[2]