Three new species of Poecilosclerida (Porifera, Demospongiae, Heteroscleromorpha) from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.

Three new species from the Aleutian Islands are described. Echinoclathria seguama n. sp.

Acantorna-a new genus of Hymedesmiidae (Porifera, Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) from the western Aleutian Islands of Alaska with description of Acantorna tahoma n. sp.

A sponge collected along the Aleutian Islands of Alaska revealed an unusual combination of characters including ectosomal acantho - tornotes never before observed. Assignment to Poecilosclerida is without any doubt due to the presence of chelae but assignment to family is more problematic because 1) there is no family of Poecilosclerida (or any other demosponge) with ectosomal acantho-tornotes, and 2) the combination of occurring spicules and their arrangement does not conform completely to any Poecilosclerid family. Thus family assignment is only possible by amending the concept of an existing poecilosclerid family and allow for spined as well as smooth tornotes and a confusedly plumose choanosomal arrangement of megascleres.

Two new species of Geodiidae (Porifera, Demospongiae, Astrophorina) from the Emperor Seamounts, North Pacific Ocean.

Two new species of Geodiidae from the Emperor Seamounts, North Pacific Ocean are described and compared to congeners. Erylus imperator n. sp.

Inventory of the eastern Bering Sea sponge fauna, geographic range extensions and description of Antho ridgwayi sp. nov.

A total of 493 sponges were collected with a bottom trawl during annual groundfish stock assessment surveys in the eastern Bering Sea in 2013, 2015, and 2016 to build an inventory of species in this largely unexplored region. We report here principally on the demosponge fauna collected during those surveys because identifications of hexactinellids are incomplete. We identified 42 unique demosponge taxa from the collection including geographical range extensions for 30 species; seven are new records for the Pacific Ocean.

Two new species of Suberitida (Porifera, Heteroscleromorpha) from the Bering Sea.

Two new species, Plicatellopsis borealis and Spongosorites beringensis, from the Bering Sea are described; both belong to genera previously not reported from the area. The genus Plicatellopsis, Burton, 1932 (Porifera, Suberitida, Suberitidae) contains five valid species, all recorded from the southern hemisphere. The record of P.

A comprehensive inventory of the Gulf of Alaska sponge fauna with the description of two new species and geographic range extensions.

Two new species, Hamacantha (Vomerula) cassanoi n. sp. and Prosuberites salgadoi n.

Suggestion of Raspailia (Hymeraphiopsis) septentrionalis as replacement name for Raspailia (Hymeraphiopsis) fruticosa Lehnert & Stone, 2015.

Shortly after publication of Raspailia (Hymeraphiopsis) fruticosa Lehnert & Stone, 2015 Rob Van Soest (pers. communication) noticed that this species name is a junior primary homonym of Raspailia fruticosa Dendy, 1887, now accepted as Endectyon fruticosa. According to the ICZN the published species name is unavailable and we now suggest to replace the name with Raspailia (Hymeraphiopsis) septentrionalis (holotype deposited at the Zoologische Staatssammlung München, ZSM 20150392, collection data published in Lehnert & Stone 2015).

New species of sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae) from the Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska.

Ten new species of demosponges, assigned to the orders Poecilosclerida, Axinellida and Dictyoceratida, discovered in the Gulf of Alaska and along the Aleutian Island Archipelago are described and compared to relevant congeners. Poecilosclerida include Cornulum globosum n. sp.

Aleutian Ancorinidae (Porifera, Astrophorida): Description of three new species from the genera Stelletta and Ancorina.

Two new species of the genus Stelletta and one new species of Ancorina are described from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and compared to congeners of the region. This is the first record of the genus Ancorina in the North Pacific Ocean. Stelletta ovalae Tanita 1965 is also reported for the first time from the Bering Sea and Alaska.

Four new species of Haplosclerida (Porifera, Demospongiae) from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.

Four new species of Haplosclerida are described from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska: Callyspongia mucosa n.sp., Cladocroce infundibulum n.