Polymastiidae (Porifera: Demospongiae) of the Nordic and Siberian Seas

• Published in: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
• Main Authors: Plotkin, Alexander, Gerasimova, Elena, Rapp, Hans Tore
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2017
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Arctic; Norwegian Sea; Norway; Nordic Seas; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315417000285; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315417000285

Polymastiidae (Porifera: Demospongiae) of the Nordic and Siberian Seas are revised and compared with the related species of the North Atlantic based on the morphological data from the type and comparative material and the molecular data from fresh samples. Twenty species from six polymastiid genera are recorded. Two species, Polymastia svenseni from Western Norway and Spinularia njordi from the Norwegian Sea, are new to science. One species, Polymastia andrica , is new to the Nordic Seas and two species, Polymastia cf. bartletti and P. penicillus , are new to the Scandinavian Coast. Distribution of the polymastiids in the North Atlantic and Arctic is discussed and the allegedly wide distribution of Spinularia sarsii and S. spinularia is questioned.