Preliminary Survey on the Biodiversity of Marine Sponges (Porifera: Demonspongiae) in the Southern Water off Penghu Archipelago

• Main Authors: Tsung-Hsuan Li, 李宗軒
• Other Authors: Yusheng M. Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/00308844209339762440

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 海洋生物研究所 === 101 === Phylum Porifera consist of approximately 11,000 extant species of sponges in four distinct groups: the glass sponges (Class Hexactinellida), the calcareous sponges (Class Calcarea), the demosponges (Class Demospongiae), and Class Homoscleromorpha. Marine sponges distribute widely over the oceans; they not only play important roles in the marine ecosystems, but also ecologically function differently. Ecological studies of sponge assemblage have been ignored due to the difficulties in sponge taxonomy in Taiwan. The main objectives of the present study were: (1) to describe the morphological characteristics of Demonspongiae commonly found in southern Penghu archipelagos, Taiwan; (2) to establish the checklist of sponge assemblage in southern Penghu archipelagos, Taiwan; (3) to understand the distribution of sponges in southern Penghu Islands; (4) to compare results with previous study on sponge assemblage in southwest side of Green Island, Taiwan. The collection sites were chosen to five locations including Cingwan, Fongguei, Shanshuei, western Wang-An, and northern Wang-An in southern Penghu Islands. Samples of each sponge in Penghu Islands (Pescadores) were collected by scuba diving at the depth range from 1.9 to 15.2 m. Architectures of the sponge skeleton including sponging fibers and spicule characters were identified using tissue section by compound light microscope (LM) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM). This is the first morphological taxonomic study of sponges in specific region in Taiwan, particularly focus on Class Demonspongiae. A total of 28 sponge species belonging to 7 orders were collected in the present study among which 11 species are new record species in Taiwan, not recorded on the sponge species checklist in southwest side of Green Island, Taiwan. The sponge species distribute higher in Cingwan and northern Wang-An, showing a higher sponge biodiversity.