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Carnivorous sponges from the Piip Volcano

Added on 2026-10-05 12:54:13 by Boury-Esnault, Nicole
Shilov, V.; Kukhlevskiy, A. (2026). Carnivorous sponges (Demospongiae: Cladorhizidae) from the Piip Submarine Volcano and Adjacent Areas (Bering Sea, NW Pacific). Regional Studies in Marine Science. 105505
A study of benthic communities of the Piip submarine volcano (Bering Sea) and adjacent waters using remotely operated vehicles revealed a high abundance and species richness of carnivorous sponges of the family Cladorhizidae (Demospongiae: Poecilosclerida). In total, four species from two genera were discovered, all of which proved to be new to science: Axoniderma valentinae sp. nov., Lycopodina tamilae sp. nov., L. ptushkini sp. nov., and L. krasokhini sp. nov. The species were studied and illustrated using light and scanning electron microscopy. For some specimens, fragments of the small and large subunits of nuclear ribosomal genes were sequenced. The data were deposited in GenBank. The distribution of the studied Cladorhizidae was characterized by pronounced vertical zonation, with the highest number of sponges recorded from the volcano summits, including areas of microbial mat development. The most abundant species, L. tamilae sp. nov., inhabited the volcano summits at depths of 471–479 m within the hydrothermal vent influence zone. Lycopodina ptushkini sp. nov. was recorded at a depth of 1258 m; L. krasokhini sp. nov., at a depth of 3526 m; and Axoniderma valentinae sp. nov., within a depth range of 3652–3753 m.


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