Preliminary study of the shallow water sponges (Demospongiae) from the north-central Moroccan Mediterranean coast

North African sponges, particularly Mediterranean-Moroccan sponges, are understudied relative to Demospongiae in most other regions of the world. In this study, we compiled an inventory of species found in the north coast of Morocco following surveys conducted from July 2019 to June 2020. Twenty-sev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAquaculture, Aquarium, Conservation & Legislation Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 305 - 313
Main Authors Krikech, Imad, Le Pennec, Gaël, Ezziyyani, Mohammed
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cluj-Napoca Bioflux SRL 01.02.2022
Subjects
Biodiversity
Coasts
Demospongiae
Shallow water
Species
Sponges
Surveys
Taxonomy
Morocco
Alboran Sea
Mediterranean Sea
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Summary:North African sponges, particularly Mediterranean-Moroccan sponges, are understudied relative to Demospongiae in most other regions of the world. In this study, we compiled an inventory of species found in the north coast of Morocco following surveys conducted from July 2019 to June 2020. Twenty-seven sponge species were identified belonging to 22 different genera, 20 families and 11 orders. Dictyoceratida, Poecilosclerida, Clionaida and Haplosclerida orders are well represented in the collection, with 3 to 6 species each, with the first two groups appearing to have the highest diversity on the northern-central coast of Morocco. These preliminary results - considering the low number of species recorded in total - are encouraging and suggest that the marine biodiversity along the Northern Mediterranean coast of Morocco is high, but not sufficiently known yet.
ISSN:1844-8143
1844-9166