Desmacella austini sp. nov. from sponge reefs off the Pacific coast of Canada

Abstract

A new species of a very thinly encrusting Desmacella (Porifera, Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida, Desmacellidae) is described from Queen Charlotte Basin and Georgia Basin, off the Canadian Pacific coast. It is compared with all known species of the genus, differing in the geometry and size of spicules, and the persistent epizoic growth