Two Marine Sponges of the Family Ancorinidae (Demospongiae: Astrophorida) from Korea

Abstract

Two sponges, Stelletta subtilis (Sollas, 1886) and Stryphnus sollasi n. sp., were collected from depth of 24-30 m at Jeju-do Island and Chuja-do Island by SCUBA diving from July 2003 to June 2010. The new species Stryphnus sollasi n. sp is similar with Stryphnus niger Sollas, 1886 in the composition of spicules, however they differ in colour and spicule size. This new species has smaller oxeas and larger oxyasters than those of S. niger. This new species has two size categories of oxyaster but S. niger has one size category of oxyaster. The colour of S. sollasi n. sp is white, but the latter puce black. Stelletta subtilis (Sollas, 1886) is first recorded in Korean fauna.

Keywords

• Stelletta
• Stryphnus
• Ancorinidae
• new species
• Korea