Contributions to Zoology, 81 (1) 55-71 (2012) Biodiversity of shallow-water sponges (Porifera) in Singapore and description of a new species of Forcepia (Poecilosclerida: Coelosphaeridae) Swee-Cheng Lim1, 3, Nicole J. de Voogd2, Koh-Siang Tan1 1 Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 18 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119227, Singapore 2 Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity, Naturalis, PO Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands 3 E-mail:
[email protected] Key words: intertidal, Southeast Asia, sponge assemblage, subtidal, tropical Abstract gia) patera (Hardwicke, 1822) was the first sponge de- scribed from Singapore in the 19th century. This was A surprisingly high number of shallow water sponge species followed by Leucosolenia flexilis (Haeckel, 1872), (197) were recorded from extensive sampling of natural inter- Coelocarteria singaporensis (Carter, 1883) (as Phloeo tidal and subtidal habitats in Singapore (Southeast Asia) from May 2003 to June 2010. This is in spite of a highly modified dictyon), and Callyspongia (Cladochalina) diffusa coastline that encompasses one of the world’s largest container Ridley (1884). Subsequently, Dragnewitsch (1906) re- ports as well as extensive oil refining and bunkering industries. corded 24 sponge species from Tanjong Pagar and Pu- A total of 99 intertidal species was recorded in this study. Of lau Brani in the Singapore Strait. A further six species these, 53 species were recorded exclusively from the intertidal of sponge were reported from Singapore in the 1900s, zone and only 45 species were found on both intertidal and subtidal habitats, suggesting that tropical intertidal and subtidal although two species, namely Cinachyrella globulosa sponge assemblages are different and distinct.