Carvalho Francisca C, Cárdenas Paco, Ríos Pilar, Cristobo Javier, Rapp Hans Tore, Xavier Joana R
Department of Biological Sciences and K.G. Jebsen Centre for Deep-Sea Research, Bergen University, Bergen, Norway.
Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
PeerJ. 2020 Apr 7;8:e8703. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8703. eCollection 2020.
Lithistid demosponges, also known as rock sponges, are a polyphyletic group of sponges which are widely distributed. In the Northeast Atlantic (NEA), 17 species are known and the current knowledge on their distribution is mainly restricted to the Macaronesian islands. In the Mediterranean Sea, 14 species are recorded and generally found in marine caves.
Lithistids were sampled in nine NEA seamounts during the scientific expeditions (1987) and (1993) organized by the MNHN of Paris. Collected specimens were identified through the analyses of external and internal morphological characters using light and scanning electron microscopy, and compared with material from various museum collections as well as literature records.
A total of 68 specimens were analysed and attributed to 17 species across two orders, seven families, and seven genera, representing new records of distribution. Ten of these species are new to science, viz. sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov., sp. nov. and sp. nov., and are here described and illustrated. New bathymetric records were also found for , and . The Meteor seamount group has a higher species richness (15 species) compared to the Lusitanian seamount group (six species). The majority of the species had their distribution restricted to one seamount, and ten are only known from a single locality, but this can be a result of sample bias.
The number of species shared between the seamounts and the Macaronesian islands is very reduced. The same pattern repeats between the NEA and Mediterranean Sea. This study demonstrates that NEA seamounts are ecosystems with a higher diversity of lithistids than previously thought, increasing the number of lithistids known to occur in the NEA and Mediterranean Sea from 26 to 36 species.
石海绵，也被称为岩海绵，是一类多源的海绵动物，分布广泛。在东北大西洋（NEA），已知有17个物种，目前关于它们分布的知识主要局限于马卡罗尼西亚群岛。在地中海，记录有14个物种，通常发现于海蚀洞。
在巴黎国家自然历史博物馆组织的1987年和1993年科学考察期间，在东北大西洋的9个海山采集了石海绵样本。通过使用光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜分析外部和内部形态特征来鉴定所采集的标本，并与来自各种博物馆收藏的材料以及文献记录进行比较。
共分析了68个标本，归属于两个目、七个科和七个属的17个物种，代表了新的分布记录。其中有10个物种是科学上新发现的，即新物种1、新物种2、新物种3、新物种4、新物种5、新物种6、新物种7、新物种8、新物种9和新物种10，在此进行了描述和图示。还发现了物种1、物种2和物种3的新测深记录。与卢西塔尼亚海山群（6个物种）相比， Meteor海山群的物种丰富度更高（15个物种）。大多数物种的分布局限于一个海山，有10个物种仅在一个地点被发现，但这可能是采样偏差的结果。
海山和马卡罗尼西亚群岛之间共有的物种数量非常少。在东北大西洋和地中海之间也重复出现了相同的模式。这项研究表明，东北大西洋海山是石海绵多样性比以前认为的更高的生态系统，使已知在东北大西洋和地中海出现的石海绵物种数量从26种增加到36种。
