Glass sponges (Porifera, Hexactinellida) form globally unique reefs that support deep-sea biodiversity in the Canadian northeast Pacific. In February 2017, the largest known reefs were protected within the Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area (HSQCS-MPA). Many studies that have established baseline biodiversity data for the MPA have focused on describing the crustaceans and fish living in the reefs, but the relationship between glass sponges and sponge epibionts has often been overlooked. We studied one of the more conspicuous sponge epibionts of the genus Desmacella Schmidt, 1870, a demosponge that encrusts the surface of reef-forming glass sponges. Using a remotely operated vehicle, samples of an encrusting sponge with three color morphotypes (yellow, white, and mauve) were collected from the northern reef complex of the HSQCS-MPA. Spicule and DNA analyses of COI sequences revealed the white morphotype to be distinct from the previously described species, D. austini Lehnert, Conway, Barrie & Krautter, 2005. Comparisons with other Desmacella samples collected from other regions in British Columbia waters since 1976 confirmed this to be a new species, which we describe here as Desmacella hyalina sp. nov. We also mapped the spatial distribution of the color morphotypes on the reefs and found that Desmacella spp. formed nearly 20% of live sponge cover at some sampling sites indicating its potential importance in the reefs. Our results expand on knowledge of the diversity of sponge epibionts in glass sponge reefs and highlight the importance of understanding cryptic species diversity especially for future monitoring in marine protected areas.

中文翻译：

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说明和Desmacella hyalina sp。的分布。十一月 （Desmacellidae的Porifera），来自加拿大西海岸的玻璃海绵礁中的一种新的隐身海绵

玻璃海绵（Porifera，Hexactinellida）形成全球独一无二的珊瑚礁，为加拿大东北太平洋的深海生物多样性提供支持。2017年2月，已知最大的珊瑚礁在赫卡特海峡和夏洛特皇后声音玻璃海绵珊瑚礁海洋保护区（HSQCS-MPA）内得到保护。已经建立了MPA基准生物多样性数据的许多研究都集中在描述生活在礁石中的甲壳类和鱼类，但是玻璃海绵和海绵表皮动物之间的关系经常被忽略。我们研究了Desmacella属中最引人注目的海绵表皮动物之一施密特（Schmidt），1870年，一块粘贴在形成礁石的玻璃海绵表面的去污海绵。使用远程操作的车辆，从HSQCS-MPA的北部礁石复合体中收集了具有三种颜色形态（黄色，白色和淡紫色）的结壳海绵样品。对COI序列进行的Spicule和DNA分析表明，白色形态与先前描述的物种D. austini Lehnert，Conway，Barrie和Krautter，2005年有所不同。与1976年以来从不列颠哥伦比亚省水域其他地区采集的其他Desmacella样品进行的比较证实了这一点成为一个新物种，我们在这里将其描述为透明质Desmacella hyalina sp.。十一月 我们也映射在珊瑚礁的颜色形态的空间分布，发现Desmacellaspp。在一些采样点形成了近20％的活海绵覆盖物，表明其在珊瑚礁中的潜在重要性。我们的研究结果扩展了对玻璃海绵礁中海绵表皮生物多样性的认识，并强调了了解隐性物种多样性的重要性，尤其是对于未来在海洋保护区进行监测。