Available online at: www.mbai.org.in doi:10.6024/jmbai.2020.62.2.2250-05 Biodiversity of sponges (Phylum: Porifera) off Tuticorin, India M. S. Varsha1,4 , L. Ranjith2, Molly Varghese1, K. K. Joshi1*, M. Sethulakshmi1, A. Reshma Prasad1, Thobias P. Antony1, M.S. Parvathy1, N. Jesuraj2, P. Muthukrishnan2, I. Ravindren2, A. Paulpondi2, K. P. Kanthan2, M. Karuppuswami2, Madhumita Biswas3 and A. Gopalakrishnan1 1ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi-682018, Kerala, India. 2Regional Station of ICAR-CMFRI, Tuticorin-628 001, Tamil Nadu, India. 3Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi-110003, India. 4Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi-682022, India. *Correspondence e-mail:
[email protected] Received: 10 Nov 2020 Accepted: 18 Dec 2020 Published: 30 Dec 2020 Original Article Abstract the Vaippar - Tuticorin area. Tuticorin area is characterized by the presence of hard rocky bottom, soft muddy bottom, lagoon The present study deals with 18 new records of sponges found at and lakes. Thiruchendur to Tuticorin region of GOM-up to a Kayalpatnam area and a checklist of sponges reported off Tuticorin distance of 25 nautical miles from shore 8-10 m depth zone-is in the Gulf of Mannar. The new records are Aiolochoria crassa, characterized by a narrow belt of submerged dead coral blocks Axinella damicornis, Clathria (Clathria) prolifera, Clathrina sororcula, which serves as a very good substrate for sponges. Patches of Clathrina sinusarabica, Clathrina coriacea, Cliona delitrix, Colospongia coral ground “Paar” in the 10-23 m depth zone, available in auris, Crella incrustans, Crambe crambe, Hyattella pertusa, Plakortis an area of 10-16 nautical miles from land are pearl oyster beds simplex, Petrosia (Petrosia) ficiformis, Phorbas plumosus, (Mahadevan and Nayar, 1967; Nayar and Mahadevan, 1987) Spheciospongia vesparium, Spirastrella cunctatrix, Xestospongia which also forms a good habitat for sponges.