Abstract
Currently, more than 8,500 valid sponge species are reported in the World Porifera Database (http://www.marinespecies.org/porifera/) (van Soest et al. 2018). The Mediterranean Sea sponge fauna, counting almost 700 species, is one of the best documented in the world (Pronzato 2003; Pansini et al. 2011; van Soest et al. 2018) but the eastern part of the basin is by far less studied, in comparison with other Mediterranean areas (Pansini et al. 2000; Voultsiadou & Vafidis 2004; Topaloğlu & Evcen 2014). A small number of species, mainly belonging to the cosmopolitan genus Spongia (Dictyoceratida), are commonly used as bath sponges. Aim of this work is to provide further information on Cyprus Island sponges in general and on species that had commercial importance in the past.
References
Bavestrello, G., Pansini, M. & Sarà, M. (1994) The variability and taxonomic status of different Petrosia-like sponges in the Mediterranean Sea. In: Sponges in time and space. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 83–92.
Bertolino, M., Cattaneo-Vietti, R., Costa, G., Pansini, M., Fraschetti, S. & Bavestrello, G. (2017) Have climate changes driven the diversity of a Mediterranean coralligenous sponge assemblage on a millennial timescale? Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 487, 355–363.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.09.020Pansini, M., Morri, C. & Bianchi, C.N. (2000) The sponge community of a subtidal area with hydrothermal vents: Milos Island, Aegean Sea. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 51 (5), 627–635.
https://doi.org/10.1006/ecss.2000.0674Pansini, M. & Longo, C. (2003) A review of the Mediterranean Sea sponge biogeography with, in appendix, a list of the demosponges hitherto recorded from this sea. Biogeographia, 24, 59–90.
https://doi.org/10.21426/B6110107Pansini, M., Manconi, R. & Pronzato, R. (2011) Porifera I. Calcarea, Demospongiae (partim), Hexactinellida, Homoscleromorpha. Fauna d’Italia. Calderini-Il Sole 24 ore, Bologna, 554 pp.
Parari, M. (2009) Climate change impacts on coastal and marine habitats of Cyprus. Cyprus International Institute for the Environment and Public Health in Association with Harvard School of Public Health, Nicosia, 9 pp.
Perez, T., Vacelet, J., Bitar, G. & Zibrowius, H. (2004) Two new lithistids (Porifera: Demospongiae) from a shallow Eastern Mediterranean cave (Lebanon). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 84, 15–24.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315404008859hPronzato, R. (1999) Sponge-fishing, disease and farming in the Mediterranean Sea. Aquatic Conservation: Marine Freshwather. Ecosystem, 9, 485–493.
Pronzato, R. (2003) Mediterranean sponge fauna: a biological, historical and cultural heritage. Biogeographia, 24, 91–99.
https://doi.org/10.21426/B6110118Topaloğlu, B. & Evcen, A. (2014) Updated checklist of sponges (Porifera) along the coasts of Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology, 38 (6), 665–676.
https://doi.org/10.3906/zoo-1405-79Vacelet, J., Bitar, G., Dailianis, T., Zibrowius, H. & Perez, T. (2008) A large encrusting clionaid sponge in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Marine Ecology, 29 (2), 237–246.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00218.xvan Soest, R.W.M., Boury-Esnault, N., Hooper, J.N.A., Rützler, K., de Voogd, N.J., Alvarez de Glasby, B., Hajdu, E., Pisera, AB., Manconi, R., Schoenberg, C., Klautau, M., Picton, B., Kelly, M., Vacelet, J., Dohrmann, M., Díaz, M.C., Cárdenas, P. & Carballo, J.L. (2018) World Porifera database. Available from: http://www.marinespecies.org/porifera (accessed 16 July 2018)
Voultsiadou-Koukoura, E. & Koukouras, A. (1993) Contribution to the Knowledge of Keratose Sponges. (Dictyoceratida, Dendroceratida, Verongida: Demospongiae, Porifera) of the Aegean Sea. Zoosystematics and Evolution, 69 (1), 57–72.
https://doi.org/10.1002/mmnz.19930690105Voultsiadou, E. & Vafidis, D. (2004) Rare sponge (Porifera: Demospongiae) species from the Mediterranean Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 84 (3), 593–598.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315404009592h