At the 4th Intl. Workshop on taxonomy of Atlanto-Mediterranean deep-sea and cave sponges

Between the 10th and the 15th of September, four generations of sponge researchers gathered in Marseille to advance our knowledge of the taxonomy (and history, and biology) of Atlanto-Mediterranean deep-sea and cave sponges. The workshop also paved the way for the release of a new Zootaxa volume on “Deep-Sea & Cave Sponges” in honor of Jean Vacelet and Klaus Rützler to celebrate the publication, sixty years ago, of the first works on the biodiversity of marine caves (Laborel & Vacelet 1958; Russ & Rützler 1959).

The volume is co-edited by SponGES’ team member Paco Cárdenas, who also attended the workshop. Further SponGES members in Marseille included Javier Cristobo and Pilar Rios. Pilar, Cristobo and Paco are also authoring three papers in the Zootaxa volume:

Cárdenas P, Vacelet J, Chevaldonné P, Pérez T, Xavier JR. 2018. From marine caves to the deep sea, a new look at Caminella (Demospongiae, Geodiidae) in the Atlanto-Mediterranean region. Zootaxa 4466: 174-196.

Ríos P, Aguilar R, Torriente A, Munoz A, Cristobo J. 2018. Sponge grounds of Artemisina (Porifera, Demospongiae) in the Iberian Peninsula, ecological characterization by ROV techniques. Zootaxa 4466: 95-123.

Ríos P, Cristobo J. 2018. Abyssocladia vaceleti (Porifera, Cladorhizidae): a new deep-sea carnivorous sponge from Patagonia. Zootaxa 4466: 164-173.

Have a look at our photogallery, with pics directly from Marseille!