Abstract

VALDERRAMA, Diego  and  ZEA, Sven. ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF SPONGES (PORIFERA) FROM THE SOUTHERNMOST CARIBBEAN REEFS (NORTH-WEST GULF OF URABÁ), WITH DESCRIPTION OF NEW RECORDS FOR THE COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN. Rev. acad. colomb. cienc. exact. fis. nat. [online]. 2013, vol.37, n.144, pp.353-378. ISSN 0370-3908.

The North-West Gulf of Urabá, Colombia, harbors the southernmost Caribbean reefs, exposed to high turbulence and fluctuating turbidity and salinity. An annotated systematic check-list of sponges from this area is presented. A total of 77 demosponge species (class Demospongiae), 3 homoscleromorph species (class Homoscleromorpha) and 1 calcareous species (class Calcarea) were found to inhabit rocky shores and reefs, above 20 m in depth. Some species in Urabá bear siliceous spicules larger than in other Caribbean areas, probably owing to additional silicon input from heavy river discharge in the gulf. This work provides, additionally, the formal taxonomic description of 15 species, which are new records for the Colombian Caribbean.

Keywords : Sponges; Porifera; Demospongiae; Calcarea; Caribbean; hipersilicified spicules.

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