The Taxonomy And Zoogeography Of The Calcare (Porifera) From China Seas

The Spongia,= Porifera,is the simplest multicellular filter-feeding animal group,with numerous small holes,through which the water flows in and out the body accompanied with a series of physiological activities such as breathing,feeding,excretion and reproduction,on its surface.The class Calcarea,includes about 700 species,only accounting for 5% of known sponge species.However,it has a wide distribution in the offshore areas,plays an important role in coastal ecosystem.The calcareous sponge fauna is little known from China seas.Based on the sponge collections in the Marine Biological Museum of Chinese Academy of Sciences,and samples recently collected from the Bohai Gulf,Yellow Sea,East and South China Seas,a taxonomic study on the Calcarea was carried out with traditional morphological method.The results show,11 species belonging to 2 subclass,2 orders,7 families,9genera,including 3 new species and 7 new recorded species from China seas were described,illustrated,and some species were provided with in situ natural pictures and submicroscopic morphological structures;these 11 species are all different from the 9species listed by Huang(2012)and 4 by Liu(2008)with species names,it is questionable that the species listed by Huang(2012)and Liu(2008)represent which species? If all the 9 species listed by them are really different from the 11 species described in this study,the number of known calcareous sponges from China seas will reach to 20 species;some morpholigical features used in the classification of calcareous sponges were reviewed and the important features such as aquiferous system,spicules,and skeleton,were illustrated with schematic diagram;keys to distinguished species,genera and were also provided;the distributions in Pacific of the species were summarized and discussed;it was found that Calcarea is very common in the coastal zones in China seas,and it is a common fouling group in the aquaculture pools of sea cucumber and other culture species.This study is the first systematically taxonomic study on Calcarea from China seas.It not only clarifies and enriches the species diversity of Calcarea,but also provides basical references for the researches of biodiversity,ecology and zoogeography of Calcarea from West Pacific Ocean.