Indian Journal of Geo Marine Sciences Vol. 47 (05), May 2018, pp. 1014-1017 A Checklist of Indian Sea pen (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Pennatulacea) Prasad Chandra Tudu1*, Dipanjan Ray2 & Anil Mohapatra3 1Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Digha, West Bengal - 721428, India. 2Bajkul Milani Mahavidyalaya, Bajkul, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal - 721655, India. 3Estuarine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Gopalpur-on-Sea, Odisha – 761002, India. *[Email:
[email protected]] Received 26 July 2016; revised 28 November 2016 A checklist of Indian sea pen is provided based on recent survey and literarture available at different source. A total of 53 species belonging to 15 genera and 10 families are found in Indian waters. The family Pennatulidae Ehrenberg, 1834 is the most species-taxon (17 species) whereas Anthoptilidae Kölliker, 1880, Scleroptilidae Jugersen, 1904, Halipteridae Williams, 1995, and Protoptilidae Kölliker, 1872 are lowest in species count (1 species each). Number of species is higher in the east coast (including Bay of Bengal and Andaman Islands) as compared to the west coast (including Arabian Sea and Lakshadweep Islands). Among the regions of east coast, Andaman and Nicobar Islands are very rich in sea pen diversity. [Keywords: Checklist, Pennatulacea, Sea pens]. Introduction deep-sea up to 6,600 ft or more, from tropics to Polar The sea pens, order Pennatulacea Verrill, 1865, are Regions. They are bioluminescent animals, when possibly the most morphologically distinctive group touched