Two new records of sponges from NW Atlantic: Iotroata acanthostylifera (Stephens, 1916) and Janulum spinispiculum (Carter, 1876).

• Main Authors: Ríos, P. (Pilar), Alvariño, L. (Lucía), Murillo, F.J. (Francisco Javier), Sacau-Cuadrado, M.M. (María del Mar)
• Format: Still Image
• Language: English
• Published: Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo 2016
• Subjects: Sponges; NEREIDA; NW Atlantic; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Barents Sea; Canada; Norway; Rockall Bank; Atlantic Arctic; Atlantic-Arctic; Iceland; Newfoundland; North Atlantic; Northeast Atlantic; Northern Norway; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10508/10174

NEREIDA, a Spanish-led multidisciplinary and international project with contribution from various NAFO contracting parties such as Canada, the UK, and Russia, was initiated in response to the UNGA Resolution 61/105. The main objective of the NEREIDA project is to gather information for the identification and delineation of VMEs in the NAFO Regulatory Area with special focus on those dominated by deep-water corals and sponges. This demarcation is a necessary step in the decision making process for the protection of these areas. The NEREIDA data collection programme comprised six research cruises conducted between May and July of 2009 and June and August 2010, aboard the Spanish R/V Miguel Oliver. In 2009, surveys were conducted to the east, north and west of the Flemish Cap and Flemish Pass, whereas in 2010, surveys covered the area south of the Flemish Cap and along the slope of the Tail of the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. In this work we present some results from the analysis of sponges samples collected by rock dredge during the NEREIDA survey programme (2009-2010). There are two new records in the NW Atlantic region: Janulum spinispiculum (Carter, 1876) with distribution in the Northeast Atlantic region: southern Portugal, Azores, Rockall Bank; Mediterranean Sea: Alboran and Ionian Seas, Canyon de la Cassidaigne; North Atlantic: Iceland; Arctic Ocean: Barents Sea, northern Norway and Spitzbergenand (Kelly et al., 2015) and Iotroata acanthostylifera (Stephens, 1916) cited only of Celtics Seas (van Soest, 2007).