1 STUDIES ON THE FAUNA OF CURAÇAO AND OTHER CARIBBEAN ISLANDS: No. 215 BarbabosDeep-Water Sponges by R.W.M. van Soest (Institute ofTaxonomic Zoology, University of Amsterdam) and N. Stentoft (Geological Survey of Denmark, DK-2400CopenhagenNV) Pages Figures Plates ABSTRACT 3 INTRODUCTION 4 GEOLOGICAL AND HYDROGRAPHICAL 6 CONDITIONS ... MATERIAL AND METHODS 7 N.B. Spicule sizes in the figures in |im, unless other- wise indicated. SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTIONS 7 Aulocystis grayi (Bowerbank) 7 2a I 1-2 Cyrtaulon sigsbeei(Schmidt) 9 2b 13-4 Dactylocalyx pumiceus Stutchbury 10 2c 15-6 Geodia gibberosa Lamarck 12 3 Geodia cf. megastrellaCarter 14 4 II 1-4 Caminus sphaeroconia Sollas 16 5 II5-6 Erylus transiens (Weltner) 17 6 III 1-6 19 7 IV 1 Pachymatisma geodiformis n.sp Stelletta 22 8 pumex (Schmidt) Stelletta cf. gigas (Sollas) 24 9 IV 2 Stelletta cf. anancora(Sollas) 26 10 IV 3 Stelletta 27 11 spec Penares mastoidea (Schmidt) 29 12 IV 4-6 Asteropus simplex (Carter) 31 13 IV 7 2 32 14 V 1-2 Asteropus syringiferus n.sp Pachastrella abyssi (Schmidt) 34 15 V 3-6 VI 1-3 Poecillastra sollasi (Topsent) 36 16 Poecillastra 38 17 aspera (Sollas) Thrombus kittoni (Carter) 40 18 Cinachyra kuekenthali Uliczka 43 19 45 20 VI4 Cinachyra arenosan.sp Acanthotetilla gorgonoscleraVan Soest 47 Theonella atlantica 48 21 VI5-6 n.sp Discodermia polydiscus Du Bocage 50 22 VII 1 Racodiscula asteroides Von Zittel 52 23 VII2-4 Corallistes typus Schmidt 54 24 56 25 VII5-6 Corallistes paratypus n.sp VIII 1-2 Corallistes tubulatus n.sp 57 26 59 27 Scleritoderma cyanea n.sp AmphibleptulamadreporaSchmidt 61 28 VIII3-5 Aciculites higginsiSchmidt 63 29 VIII6-7, IX 1-2 Aciculites cribrophora (Schmidt) 64 30 IX 3 Siphonidiumramosum (Schmidt) 66 31 Gastrophanella implexai Schmidt 68 32 IX 4-6 Leiodermatium lynceus Schmidt 69 33 Vetulina stalactites Schmidt 71 34 Lithobubaris tenens Vacelet 72 35 Polymastia sol (Schmidt) 75 36 Aaptos aaptos (Schmidt) 77 37 Pseudotrachya hystrix (Topsent) 79 38 XI Alvarez & Van Soest 82 39 Topsentia roquensis Diaz, ... 84 40 X 2 Topsentia porrecta (Topsent) Alvarez & Van Soest 85 41 Epipolasis reiswigi Diaz, ... 88 42 X 3-4 Epipolasis rea (De Laubenfels) De Laubenfels 90 43 X 5-6 Myrmekiodermastyx 92 44 ?Halichondria ruetzleri n.sp 93 45 XI 1-2 Spongosoritessiliquaria n.sp lewisi 95 46 Leucophloeus n.sp Agelas clathrodes (Schmidt) 98 47 99 48 Agelas spec 49 Agelas sceptrum (Lamarck) 100 Agelasschmidti Wilson 102 50 Phakellia folium Schmidt 103 51 XI3 Auletta sycinularia Schmidt 105 52 Acanthella vaceleti n.sp 107 53 109 54 XI4-5 Bubaris rugosa (Schmidt) Bubaris 110 55 XI6 flagelliformis n.sp Raspailiacf. tenuis (Ridley & Dendy) 113 56 XI 7 Desmacella annexaSchmidt 116 57 Desmacella polysigmataVan Soest 117 Biemna 118 58 oxeata n.sp Phlyctaenoporahalichondrioides n.sp 119 59 Acarnus souriei (Levi) 121 3 Forcepia trilabis (Boury-Esnault) 122 Crella chelifera Van Soest 122 Antho barbadensis (V an Soest) 123 Echinochalina melana 123 60 XIII n.sp Petrosia pellasarca ( De Laubenfels) 127 61 Strongylophora hartmani Van Soest 128 XII2 Strongylophora stoneae n.sp 129 62 XII3 Xestospongia cf. rosariensis Zea & Riitzler 130 63 Xestospongia cf. proxima (Duch. & Mich.) 132 64 XII4 Calyx podatypa ( De Laubenfels) 133 65 Ircinia cf. dendroides (Schmidt) 136 66a Ircinia hummelincki Van Soest 136 Aplysina ocracea Alcolado 137 66b XII 5 Pseudoceratina crassa ( Hyatt) 138 66c REVIEW OF WEST INDIAN DEEP WATER SPONGES .... 139 DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF DEEP-WATER 140 SPONGES OFF PAYNESBAY GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE BOTTOM CHARACTERIS- 140 TICS AND BIOTA DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF SPONGES 141 67 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 143 REFERENCES 144 Abstract in locations off the of Barbados are Deep-water sponges dredged up two west coast described. A total of69 is which 16 systematically species recorded, among arenew to science, Theonella atlan- viz. Pachymatisma geodiformis, Asteropus syringiferus, Cinachyra arenosa, tica. Corallistes paratypus, Corallistes tubulatus, Scleritoderma cyanea, Spongosorites sil- quariae, ?Halichondria ruetzleri, Leucophloeus lewisi, Acanthella vaceleti, Bubaris flagellifor- mis, Biemnaoxeata, Phlyctaenoporahalichondrioides,Echinochalina melana, Strongylophora stoneae. Of each species illustrations of the habit and/or the skeletal architecture and spiculation are provided. A review ofWest Indian deep water sponges is givenin the form of tables of records of deep water sponges arranged according to the major higher taxa. A special report is given ofthe distribution ofthe quantitatively important sponges in a transect to perpendicularto the coast offPaynes Bay from 110 325 m. Alongthis depth gradientit was three distinct in possible to distinguish zones:an upper (110-137m) zone poor specimens, with Spongosorites siliquaria n.sp. and Topsentia porrecta as characteristic species, a zone from 137-172 m rich in species and numbers, and a third zonebelow 208 m in which Vetulina stalactites is the dominant sponge. These three zonesmay be related to the morphologyofthe sea bottom and the grain size of the sediment. 4 INTRODUCTION below the coral reefs and on Deep-water sponges (i.e. sponges occuring the lower shelf and the upper slope down to 400-500 m) from the West Indies are poorly known. Only threepublications are devotedexclusively to the of 1879 and DE description deep-water sponges (SCHMIDT, 1880; LAUBENFELS, 1934), although several others contain taxonomic descrip- tions of deep forms in connection with shallow-water forms (notably SCHMIDT, 1870; DE LAUBENFELS, 1936a, 1953; VAN SOEST, 1977,1978,1980, 1984). Data on quantitative distributionand ecology are even more scarce: they are only provided in LEWIS (1965), who studied the benthic com- munities, topography and bottom sediments in depths between 50 and 400 m along a transect at right angles to the west coast of Barbados. From the qualitative dataderived mainly from dredge hauls three broad and general communities were recognized: a sponge and coral community between 50 and 150 m; a coelenterate, mollusk and echinoderm community between 100 and 300 and mollusk between 300 and 400 m; a community m. As to the depth distribution of the sponge species (Appendix on p. 1061 of LEWIS, preliminary identifications madeby W.D. HARTMAN) a totalof31 found of which species were between 50 and 350 m, 23 occurred in the 50-100 m interval (with possibly some true coral reef dwellers), 19 in the 100-150 m interval (Agelas schmidti was reported common), 5 in the 150-200 m interval (with two Corallistes species reported as common), 1 in the and 2 (Vetulina stalactites) 200-250m interval, (Azorica cribriphora in the interval. and again V. stalactites) 250-300 m During 1978-1980 one of us (N.S.) studied the surface sediments of the 110-325 m depth interval at the foot of a fossil barrierreef off Paynes Bay of on the west coast of Barbados(13° 10'N 59° 40' W) by means component than sand and found analysis (especially the grain fractions coarser grade) be of the constituents. The research sponges to one more significant yielded a large amount ofsponge samples belonging to 58 species, several ofwhich appear to be new to science. several from of 100-200 In 1964 huge dredge samples depths m off Holetownon the west coast of Barbados were secured by Dr. P. WAGFNAAR HUMMELINCK; they contained also ample sponge material, belonging to 32 species, several of which again belonged to previously undescribed forms. Some of these have been described since then in of papers by one us 5 FIGURE 1 .A. Mapof Barbados, showing approximate location of study area (black dot). B. Profile of the sublittoral and upper shelf in a transect off Paynes Bay on the west coast of Barbados; a = top of the first ridge or barrier reef, b = the top of the second, fossil barrier reef, c = the break in the slope of the sea floor at 137 m. 6 (RWM VS). The two collectionscombined,with the preliminary identifica- material Prof. enabled tionsof LEWIS' (1965) by W.D. HARTMAN, us to get a clear picture of the deep-water sponge fauna, its composition, distribution and ecology. GEOLOGICAL AND HYDROGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS Barbados (cf. Fig. la), the easternmost island of the Lesser Antilles, forms a rising top on the N-S running Barbados Ridge situated in the so-called 'Lesser Antilles deformed belt' (CASH & HOLCOMBE, 1980). the shelf the sublittoral is less than Therefore, or zone very narrow, mostly five kilometres, around the whole island. Between 80 and 85% of the 430 km 2surface ofthe island consists ofPleistocene coralrocks (the Coral Rock Formation). In the NE part of the island, older, Tertiary deposits crop out, especially in the 'Scotland District' (SAUNDERS, 1965). The seaward trans- portation of sediments from the island is insignificant, particularly west- wards as two submerged barrierreefs hindertransport (MACINTYRE, 1967). The crest of the oldest of these reefs, the fossil barrier reef, which was probably formed between 15,000 and 12,500 Y.B.P., is now situated at a depth of about70 m (Fig. 1 b). Eustatic and isostatic movements in the late Quaternary period played a significant role in controlling the nature of the surface sediments near the shelf edge. Sea level was situated 100-120 m below level Y.B.P. the maximum. present 15,000-19,000 during glacial From c. 16,000 to c. 7,000 Y.B.P. a relatively quick rise in sea level took place, whereas from 7,000 Y.B.P. until present day the rise was relatively slow (JAMES & GINSBURG, 1978). These eustatic conditions must be related to the local isostatic movements. but From the sample areas there are no hydrographical data available, for other stations off the west coast (LEWIS, et. al., 1962), it has been demonstrated that the characteristic 'intrusion' of highly saline, relatively nutrient-poor waters in depths from about 100 to 200 m found in many parts of the Caribbean region (e.g.