New discoveries in Eastern Mediterranean mesophotic sponge grounds: updated checklist and description of three novel sponge species


Published: Apr 8, 2021
Keywords:
New species checklist Levantine Sea.
TAL IDAN
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6788-2963
SIGAL SHEFER
TAMAR FELDSTEIN
MICHA ILAN
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4188-4573
Abstract
Rich and diverse mesophotic sponge grounds were recently discovered along the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea (Israeli coast). Six sites have been surveyed over the last decade (2009-2019) and the sponge specimens discovered and collected in these expeditions have increased the known sponge richness of the Israeli fauna by ~34%. Here we provide an updated checklist along with the distribution of the various species in seven mesophotic sponge grounds along the coast. Nine mesophotic species have been added, seven of which are new to the Israeli coast. Moreover, we describe three novel species: Hemiasterella verai sp. nov., Axinella venusta sp. nov., and Plakortis mesophotica sp. nov. H. verai sp. nov. differs from other congeneric species in both shape and color; in addition, it has thinner megascleres with more abundant oxeas and microscleres containing both oxyasters and strongylasters. A. venusta sp. nov. is a rather stiff and smooth axinellid with only a few short protruding spicules, and differs from other congeneric species mainly in shape and color. P. mesophotica sp. nov. is characterized by many folds and grooves, and molecular analysis revealed only a 96% similarity with Plakorits simplex.The discovery of these novel species highlights the importance of studying ecosystems that are not readily accessible. Further research of these mesophotic sponge grounds is needed in order to establish the community baseline data and support conservation attempts for these unique habitats.
Article Details
  • Section
  • Research Article
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Bertolino, M., Bo, M., Canese, S., Bavestrello, G., Pansini, M., 2015. Deep sponge communities of the Gulf of St Eufemia (Calabria, southern Tyrrhenian Sea), with description of two new species. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 95 (07), 1371-1387.
Bo, M., Bertolino, M., Bavestrello, G., Canese, S., Giusti, M. et al., 2012. Role of deep sponge grounds in the Mediterranean Sea: A case study in Southern Italy. Hydrobiologia, 687 (1), 163-177.
Borchiellini, C., Manuel, M., Alivon, E., Boury‐Esnault, N., Vacelet, J. et al., 2001. Sponge paraphyly and the origin of Metazoa. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 14 (1), 171-179.
Cardenas, P., Perez, T., Boury-Esnault, N., 2012. Sponge Systematics Facing New Challenges. pp. 79-209. In: Advances in sponge science: Phylogeny, systematics, ecology. Volume 61.
Becerro, M.A., Uriz, M.J., Maldonado, M., Turon, X. (Eds.). Advances in Marine Biology, Academic Press.
Cerrano, C., Bastari, A., Calcinai, B., Di Camillo, C., Pica, D. et al., 2019. Temperate mesophotic ecosystems: Gaps and perspectives of an emerging conservation challenge for the mediterranean sea. The European Zoological Journal, 86 (1), 370-388.
Chombard, C., Boury-Esnault, N., Tillier, S., 1998. Reassessment of Homology of Morphological Characters in Tetractinellid Sponges Based on Molecular Data. Systematic Biology, 47 (3), 351-366.
Coll, M., Piroddi, C., Albouy, C., Ben Rais Lasram, F., Cheung, W.W., et al., 2012. The Mediterranean Sea under siege: Spatial overlap between marine biodiversity, cumulative threats and marine reserves. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21 (4), 465-480.
Coll, M., Piroddi, C., Steenbeek, J., Kaschner, K., Lasram, F.B. et al., 2010. The Biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: Estimates, Patterns, and Threats. PLoS ONE, 5 (8), e11842.
Evcen, A., Çinar, M.E., 2012. Sponge (Porifera) species from the Mediterranean coast of Turkey (Levantine Sea, eastern Mediterranean), with a checklist of sponges from the coasts of Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology, 36 (4), 460-474.
Folmer, O., Black, M., Hoeh, W., Lutz, R., Vrijenhoek, R., 1994. DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I from diverse metazoan invertebrates. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology, 3 (5), 294-299.
Gazave, E., Carteron, S., Chenuil, A., Richelle-Maurer, E., Boury-Esnault, N. et al., 2010. Polyphyly of the genus Axinella and of the family Axinellidae (Porifera: Demospongiaep). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 57 (1), 35-47.
Gerovasileiou, V., Voultsiadou, E,. 2012. Marine Caves of the Mediterranean sea: A Sponge Biodiversity Reservoir within a Biodiversity Hotspot. PLoS ONE, 7 (7), e39873.
Guindon, S., Dufayard, J.F., Lefort, V., Anisimova, M., Hordijk, W. et al., 2010. New Algorithms and Methods to Estimate Maximum-Likelihood Phylogenies: Assessing the Performance of PhyML 3.0. Systematic Biology, 59 (3), 307-321.
Hooper, J. N., van Soest, R.W., 2002. Systema Porifera. A Guide to the Classification of Sponges. Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers, New York , NY, 1718 pp.
Hooper, J.N.A., 2003. Sponguide guide to sponge collection and identification. [Online]. Available: http://www.qm.qld.gov. au/~/media/Documents/Find%20out%20about/Animals%20 of%20Queensland/Sea%20life/sponguide-2003.pdf
Idan, T., Shefer, S., Feldstein, T., Yahel, R., Huchon, D. et al., 2018. Shedding light on an East-Mediterranean mesophotic sponge ground community and the regional sponge fauna. Mediterranean Marine Science, 19 (1), 84-106.
Katoh, K., Kuma, K.I., Toh, H., Miyata, T., 2005. MAFFT version 5: improvement in accuracy of multiple sequence alignment. Nucleic Acids Research, 33 (2), 511-518.
Lesser, M.P., Slattery, M., Leichter, J.J., 2009. Ecology of mesophotic coral reefs. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 375 (1-2), 1-8.
Lévi, C., 1957. Spongiaires des côtes d’Israel. Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel, 6 (3-4), 201-212.
Moraes, F.C., Muricy, G., 2003. Taxonomy of Plakortis and Plakinastrella (Demospongiae: Plakinidae) from oceanic islands off north-eastern Brazil, with description of three new species. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 83 (2), 385-397.
Morrow, C., Cardenas, P., 2015. Proposal for a revised classification of the Demospongiae (Porifera). Frontiers in Zoology, 12 (1), 1-27.
Morrow, C., Cárdenas, P., Boury-Esnault, N., Picton, B., Mccormack, G. et al., 2019. Integrating morphological and molecular taxonomy with the revised concept of Stelligeridae (Porifera: Demospongiae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 187 (1), 31-81.
Morrow, C., Thomas, O., Mccormack, G., 2018. An integrative approach to investigating the taxonomic affinities of Jaspis and Hemiasterella. In: 4th International Workshop on Taxonomy of Atlanto-Mediterranean Deep-Sea & Cave Sponges, 10-15 September 2018. Marseille, France.
Mouillot, D., Albouy, C., Guilhaumon, F., Lasram, F.B.R., Coll, M. et al., 2011. Protected and Threatened Components of Fish Biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea. Current Biology, 21 (12), 1044-1050.
Nichols, S.A., 2005. An evaluation of support for order-level monophyly and interrelationships within the class Demospongiae using partial data from the large subunit rDNA and cytochrome oxidase subunit I. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 34 (1), 81-96.
Pansini, M., 1984. Notes on some Mediterranean Axinella with description of two new species. Bollettino dei Musei e degli Istituti Biologici dell’Universitá di Genova, 50-51, 79-98.
Picton, B., Goodwin, C., 2007. Sponge biodiversity of Rathlin island, Northern Ireland. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 87 (6), 1441-1458.
Pomponi, S.A., Diaz, M.C., van Soest, R.W.M., Bell, L.J., Busutil, L. et al., 2019. Sponges. p. 563-588. In: Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems. Loya, Y., Puglise, K.A., Bridge, T.C.L. (Eds.). Springer, Cham.
Rot, C., Goldfarb, I., Ilan, M., Huchon, D., 2006. Putative cross-kingdom horizontal gene transfer in sponge (Porifera) mitochondria. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 6 (1), 71.
Rützler, K., Macintyre, I.G., 1978. Siliceous sponge spicules in coral reef sediments. Marine Biology, 49, 147-159. Schulze, F. E., 1880. Untersuchungen über den Bau und die Entwicklung der Spongien. Neunte Mittheilung. Die Plakiniden. Zeitschrift Für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie, 34 (2), 407-451.
Sitja, C., Maldonado, M., 2014. New and rare sponges from the deep shelf of the Alboran Island (Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean). Zootaxa, 3760 (2), 141-179.
Stephens, J., 1916. Preliminary notice of some Irish sponges. The monaxonellida (suborder Sigmatomonaxonellida) obtained by the fisheries branch of the Department of Agriculture and technical instruction, Ireland. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 8 (17-99), 241.
Thacker, R.W., Hill, A.L., Hill, M.S., Redmond, N.E., Collins, A.G. et al., 2013. Nearly Complete 28S rRNA Gene Sequences Confirm New Hypotheses of Sponge Evolution. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 53 (3), 373-387.
Topsent, E., 1928. Spongiaires de l’Atlantique et de la Méditerranée provenant des croisières du Prince Albert ler de Monaco. Résultats des campagnes scientifiques accomplies par le Prince Albert I. Monaco, 74, 1-376.
Tsurnamal, M., 1968. Studies on the Porifera of the Mediterranean littoral of Israel. Ph.D Thesis, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 175 pp. (In Hebrew).
Tsurnamal, M., 1969. Four new species of Mediterranean Demospongiae and new data on Callites lacazii schmidt. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 10, 343-357.
Vacelet, J., Bitar, G., Carteron, S., Zibrowius, H., Perez, T., 2007. Five new sponge species (Porifera: Demospongiae) of subtropical or tropical affinities from the coast of Lebanon (Eastern Mediterranean). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 87 (6), 1539-1552.
Vacelet, J., Perez, T., 2008. Phorbas topsenti and Phorbas tailliezi (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida), new names for the Mediterranean ‘Phorbas paupertas’ and ‘Phorbas coriaceus’. Zootaxa, 1873 (1), 26-38.
van Soest,R.W.M., Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J., Rützler K., De Voogd, N. et al., 2021. World Porifera Database : http://www. marinespecies.org/porifera (Accessed 10 January 2021)
van Soest, R.W.M., Boury-Esnault, N., Vacelet, J., Dohrmann, M., Erpenbeck, D. et al., 2012. Global Diversity of Sponges (Porifera). PLoS ONE, 7 (4), e35105.
Voultsiadou, E., 2005a. Demosponge distribution in the Eastern Mediterranean: A NW-SE gradient. Helgoland Marine Research, 59 (3), 237-251.
Voultsiadou, E., 2005b. Sponge diversity in the Aegean Sea: Check list and new information. Italian Journal of Zoology, 72 (1), 53-64.
Voultsiadou, E., 2009. Reevaluating sponge diversity and distribution in the Mediterranean Sea. Hydrobiologia, 628 (1), 1-12.
Voultsiadou-Koukoura, E., van Soest, R., 1991. Hemiasterella aristoteliana n. sp. (Porifera, Hadromerida) from the Aegean Sea with a discussion on the family Hemiasterellidae. Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 61 (1), 43-49.
Wilson, H.V., 1902. The sponges collected in Porto Rico in 1899 by the U.S. Fish Commission steamer Fish Hawk. Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, 2, 375-411.
Zhang, J.Z., Mordy, C.W., Gordon, L.I., Ross, A., Garcia, H.E. et al., 2000. Temporal Trends in Deep Ocean Redfield Ratios. Science, 289, 183a-189a.
Most read articles by the same author(s)