A Review on Taxonomy of Lakshadweep Sponges and its Checklist

Dil Baseer Sabith KK; PM Mohan

A Review on Taxonomy of Lakshadweep Sponges and its Checklist

Dil Baseer Sabith KK, PM Mohan^*

Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University Off Campus, Brookshabad, India

*Corresponding author: Mohan PM, Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University Off Campus, Brookshabad - 744112, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Received Date: 09 April, 2021; Accepted Date: 19 April, 2021; Published Date: 23 April, 2021

Citation: Sabith DBKK, Mohan PM (2020) A Review on Taxonomy of Lakshadweep Sponges and its Checklist. Curr Trends Oceanogr Mar Sci 4: 114. DOI: 10.29011/CTOMS-114.100014

Introduction

Sponge is one of the oldest group of multicellular animal found on the earth [1]. They are one of the highly diverse and successful group of marine benthic communities around the world [2]. Sponge is one of the dominnent associated species in coral reef ecosystem [3] and they help to bind the live corals to the reef frames, also helps to regeneration of broken reefs, sheltering microbial symbionts of nitrifying and photosynthesizing acivities and protecting from erosion processes [4-6].

The spongiology in India started with freshwater sponges by Carter [7-9] and followed by Bowerbank [10] with marine sponges. Even though India has rich history of sponge studies, from the Lakshadweep Island group, studies are very meagre. Burton [11] studied off Kilten Island sponges and latter Thomas [12-19] studied the Lakshadweep Islands sponges in detail. These studies reported 91 species of sponges from 10 islands of this location. The next detailed study was carried out by George et al. [20] after three decades. The studies after Thomas [19], most of the work of these Islands were sponge metabolites and associated microbial studies along with that few distribution studies as an extension of the earlier studies were reported. Feby and Nair [21] studied sponge associated Dysidea granulosa Bergquist, 1965 and Sigmadocia (Haliclona) fibulata Schmidt, 1862 bacterial distribution in the Kavaratti Island. Gopi and Ajithkumar [22] reported 21 species of sponges from Agatti Island, of which 19, were new report. Prabhakaran et al., [23] reported 22 species of sponges from seagrass meadows of Minicoy Island and Rocktim et al., [24] reported a new record of sponges from Bangaram and Thinnakara island.

Since, the long gap in the studies of the sponges of Lakshadweep Islands and its inconsistency in terminology makes a perplexing situation for the upcoming researchers. This may be due to not available of updates checklist, some species name change because of the revised classification of sponges by Morrow and Cárdenas [25] as well as differences of opinion are available on about the number of sponge species recorded from Lakshadweep offshore regions. An attempt was initiated to compile the literature on sponge species and its distribution for Lakshdweep Islands waters and prepared a checklist to update the sponge taxonomy status in these Islands.

Materials and Methods

The existing published literatures were compiled and extracted the status of sponge studies in the waters of Lakshadweep Islands marine environments. The collected results were interpreted and brought out as a checklist of sponges of Lakshadweep. The taxon identified in these texts were verified with World Porifera Data Base [26] and the World Register of Marine Species [27]. The taxonomy of the reported taxon was updated based on the revised porifera classification proposed by Morrow and Cardenas [25].

Results

As on date 19 sponges related papers were published relating to Lakshadweep Islands marine environments. The published report suggested that 145 taxon of sponges belongs to 86 Genera, 49 Family and 18 Orders among 5 Subclasses and 3 Classes reported from Lakshadweep Islands. Among the 145 taxon 126 identified up to the species level and remaining 19 were identified only up to genus level. Out of 19 sponge related papers, only 6 were taxonomy paper [11,12,14-17], 6 were associated microbial and metabolites studies of sponges [28-32,21], 4 were distribution studies [18,19,22,23], along with one catalogue [13], one checklist paper [20] and a short communication by Rocktim et al., [24].

Discussion

Off the cost of Kiltan Island, the first sponge report from Lakshadweep islands was made [11]. This sponge species were the collections of R.I.M.S. “Investigator” expedition. After that, it took about 40 years to get an attention to the sponge fauna of these Island ecosystems by Thomas [12]. This work was a Ph.D. thesis and it’s an unpublished data. However, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institutes (CMFRI) reference sponge specimens catalogue mentioned only 10 species from Lakshadweep, which was published by Thomas [13]. A subsequent study by Thomas [19] mentioned that 11 sponge species were identified from the Minicoy Island of Lakshadweep. So, the 11th specimen mentioned by Thomas [12,19] was not clear from these literatures.

Subsequently, a series of publications from Thomas [14-17] described about 41 species of sponges exclusively from Minicoy Islands of Lakshadweep. Among the 41 species, 3 identified up to genus and 20 species are remaining in the same name as he mentioned, and the rest of the 18 species have got synonym or transferred to new names.

The sponge availability from different Islands of Lakshadweep other than Kiltan and Minicoy was established by Thomas [18]. This article has not a systematic paper, but he reported distribution and diversity of boring sponges from nine islands of Lakshadweep, namely- Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Suhali, Androth, Minicoy, Amini, Kiltan, Agatti and Kadmat. A total of 18 boring sponges from 9 different genus (Rhabdermia, amorphinopsis, Aka, Cliona, Spirastrella, Thoosa, Jaspis, Halina, Samus) were identified and 6 sponges like Cliona celata, Cliona ensifera, Cliona mucurnata, Cliona vastifica, Spirastrella inconstans and Spirastrella cuspidifera are mentioning for its abundance in different Islands of Lakshadweep.

The most acknowledged research article on the sponge of Lakshadweep was published by Thomas [19] with a compiled report of 91 sponges from 10 islands of Lakshadweep, including his previous studies from these Islands. But this paper has not provided any detailed systematic account of the sponge species for these 91 sponges. At present, 44 species Out of 91 sponges mentioned in this paper got their synonym or transferred to new names.

Furthermore, from the 91 sponges of Lakshadweep 8 sponges identified only up to genus level, namely Myxilla sp, Pseudosuberties sp, Phycopsis sp1, Phycosis sp2, Agelas sp, Bubaris sp, Hippospongia sp, Thorectopsamma sp and 2 got the same name according to the current systematics, i.e, Aka laccadivensis and Damirrina laccadivensis are accepted as Zyzzya fuliginosa. This is the reason in many papers, a number of the sponge species available from these Islands became 82. While going through the distribution table of Thomas [19] suggested that distributional data of 2 sponge species are missing, i.e. the species Ecionemia acervus and Thoosa armata. The species described as Tedani anhelan have an unrecognized author, which was repeated in all other publications of Thomas too.

Parameswaran et al., [28] studied secondary metabolites of the species Ircinia ramose (Keller), collected from Bangaram Islands. The work done by Feby and Nair [21] on associated bacterial studies from Dysidea granulosa Bergquist, 1965 and Sigmadocia (Haliclona) fibulata Schmidt, 1862, of Kavaratti Island. Above these articles doesn’t mention that the species Ircinia ramose (Keller) and Dysidea granulosa Bergquist, 1965 were a new report to Lakshadweep.

The work done by Gopi and Ajithkumar [22] from Agatti Island, suggested that they identified 21 species, of which 14 species were new to Agatti Island and 3 were identified only to genus level and remaining 4 species were reported by Thomas [19]. Furthermore, from their identification, 12 specimens mentioned the species name with wrong author or year. This information leads to confusion among the researchers on sponges. The lists of the Species mention with a wrong author name or year are mentioned in the Table 2:

Prabhakar et al. [23] reported 22 species of sponges from the seagrass associated environment of Minicoy Island, Lakshadweep. Among them, 16 was identified to species level and the remaining 6 identified only to genus level. Of the 16 species, 5 species, namely, Haliclona pigmentifera, Gelliodes cellaria, Trcinia comana, Sypha ciliata and Xenospongia sp. were not reported from Lakshadweep Island before this study and three more species, namely, Haliclona tenrmosa, Rhavdastrella globostella and Tethya diploderma were the first report of Minicoy Island. However, the detailed taxonomy was not presented for the above species mentioned in this article. Gopi and Ajithkumar [22] and Prabhakar et al. [23] reported four species of calcareous sponges Pericharax heteroraphis (Poléjaeff, 1883), Leucetta chagosensis (Dendy, 1913), Clathrina sp., and Sycon ciliatum (Fabricius, 1780). However, they did not mention any description of this species. But, latter the species Leucetta chagosensis (Dendy, 1913) was described by van Soest and de Voogd [33] from Minicoy and Kavarati Islands.

A recent short communication of Rocktim et al., [24] reported coral killing sponges outbreak, Terpios hoshinota (Rützler and Muzik, 1993) from Bangaram and Thinnakara Islands, which was also a first report of the Lakshadweep Islands.

George et al. [20] reported 101 species of sponges from the Indian nearshore waters. Among them, 38 sponges were reported from Lakshadweep Islands. Out of reported species from Lakshadweep 24 species were first reports. However, the cursory analysis of data in this article suggested that, 25 species were new to Lakshadweep Island, 6 species were reported in previous works of these Islands and the remaining 3 species were identified up to genus and the last 4 species are aff. species.

Conclusion

This study concluded that, a total of 145 species of sponges is recorded in 19 published papers from Lakshadweep Islands. Except Hexactinellida all the three remaining Classes are recorded from these Islands. Demosponges has the most predominant Class followed by 4 records of Calcarea from these locations and a single record off Class Homoscleromorpha was observed. The major contributions of these records were contributed by Thomas. It is interesting to note that every author got one or more new records from these islands proves that the diversity of the sponges in this location are enormous and the detailed and intensive study is needed to reveal the sponge diversity of these Islands.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Head, Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology and authorities of Pondicherry University for providing the facilities. The author KKDBS thank the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), New Delhi for the award of NFST fellowship.

Sl. No.	ACCEPTED NAME	Synonymous representation from Lakshadweep papers.	Recorded Locations	REFERENCE
	Class: Demospongiae Subclass: Heteroscleromorpha Order: Tetractinellida Suborder: Astrophorina
	Family: Theonellidae
1.	Theonella cupola (Burton, 1928)		KLT & MCY	Burton (1928) [11]; Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Ancorinidae
2.	Jaspis penetrans (Carter, 1880)		SUH & KPL	Thomas (1989) [19]
3.	Jaspis diastra (Vacelet & Vasseur, 1965)	Zaplethea digonoxea spp. diastra (Vacelet & Vasseur, 1965)	SUH	Thomas (1989) [19]
4.	Ecionemia acervus (Bowerbank, 1862)		MCY & AGT	Thomas (1969, 1980, 1989) [13,16,19]; Gopi and Ajith Kumar (2012) [22]
5.	Ecionemia thielei (Thomas, 1986)		MCY & KDM	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
6.	Rhabdastrella rowi (Dendy, 1916)	Aurora rowi (Dendy, 1916)	AMN	Thomas (1989) [19]
7.	Rhabdastrella globostellata (Carter, 1883)	Aurora globostellata (Carter, 1883)	SUH & MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]; Parbhakar et al., (2013) [23]
8.	Stelletta tethyopsis (Carter, 1880)		KVT	Thomas (1989) [19]
9.	Stelletta sp		AGT	Gopi and Ajith kumar (2012) [22]
10.	Asteropus simplex (Carter 1879)	Stellettinopsis simplex (Carter 1879)	MCY	Thomas (1969a) [13]
11.	Dercitus (Stoeba) plicatus (Schmidt, 1868)	Halina plicata (Schmidt, 1868)	KVT, SUH, KLP, MCY, KDM & AMN	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Geodiidae
12.	Geodia lindgreni (Lendenfeld, 1903)		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16.19]
	Suborder: Spirophorina
	Family: Tetillidae
13.	Cinachyrella cavernosa (Lamarck, 1815)	Cynachyra cavernosa (Lamarck, 1815)	KVT	Thomas (1989) [19]
14.	Paratetilla bacca (Selenka, 1867)		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16.19]
	Family: Samidae
15.	Samus anonymus (Gray, 1867)		KVT, SUH, KPL, AND, MCY, KDM	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Thoosidae
16.	Thoosa armata (Topsent, 1888)		----NA---	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Order: Haplosclerida Family: Chalinidae
17.	Haliclona (Gellius) fibulata (Schmidt, 1862)	Sigmadocia fibulata (Schmidt, 1862)	MCY, KVT, SUH, MCY, AND, KLP, KPT & AGT.	Thomas (1979, 1989) [15,19]; Parbhakar et al., (2013) [23]; Feby and Nair (2010) [21]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]
18.	Haliclona (Gellius) cellaria (Rao, 1941)	Gelliodes cellaria	MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
19.	Haliclona (Gellius) aff. Cymaeformis (nov) George et al., 2020		MCY,AGT & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
20.	Haliclona (Haliclona) oculata (Linnaeus, 1759)	Haliclona oculata (Linnaeus, 1759)	KLP	Thomas (1989) [19]
21.	Haliclona tenuiramosa (Burton, 1930)		KLP & MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]; Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
22.	Haliclona pigmentifera (Dandy, 1905)	Haliclona pigmentifera	MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [21]
23.	Chalinula nematifera (de Laubenfels, 1954)	Haliclona nematifera Grant, 1836 but actullay Haliclona nematifera (De Laubenfels, 1954)	AGT	Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [23]
	Family: Petrosiidae
24.	Neopetrosia chaliniformis (Thiele, 1899)	Haliclona exigua (Kirkpatrick, 1900)	KVT	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Niphatidae
25.	Gelliodes fibulata (Carter, 1881)	Gelliodes fibulata sensu (Ridley,1884)	KVT	Thomas (1989) [19]
26.	Gelliodes pumila (Lendenfeld, 1887)	Sigmadocia pumila (Lendenfeld, 1887)	MCY	Thomas, (1979, 1989) [15,19]
	Family: Phloeodictyidae
27.	Oceanapia sagittaria (Sollas, 1902)	Orina sagittaria (Sollas, 1902)	KVT	Thomas (1989) [19]
28.	Siphonodictyon minutum (Thomas, 1972)	Aka minuta (Thomas, 1972)	KVT, SUH, KPL, AND, MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Callyspongiidae
29.	Callyspongia (Cladochalina) diffusa (Ridley, 1884)	Callyspongia diffusa (Ridley, 1884)	MCY	Thomas (1979, 1989) [15,19]
30.	Callyspongia (Cladochalina) fibrosa (Ridley & Dendy, 1886)	Callyspongia fibrosa (Ridley & Dendy, 1886)	AND,MCY & AMN	Thomas (1989) [19]
31.	Callyspongia (Callyspongia) tubulosa (Linnaeus, 1759)	Callyspongia tubulosa (de Laubenfels, 1936)	AGT	Gopi and Ajithkumar, (2012) [22]
32.	Callyspongia (Euplacella) retiarmata comb (nov) George et al., 2020		MCY,KDM, AGT & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
33.	Callyspongia (Euplacella) mannaarensis comb (nov) George et al., 2020		MCY	George et al. (2020) [20]
34.	Callyspongia crassifibra (Dendy, 1889)		KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
35.	Callyspongia sp		MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
	Order: Poecilosclerida Family: Iotrochotidae
35.	Iotrochota baculifera (Ridley, 1884)		KVT & KLP	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Isodictyidae
36.	Coelocarteria singaporensis (Carter, 1883)	Cornulum vesiculatum (Dendy, 1905)	KLP	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Acarnidae
37.	Zyzzya fuliginosa (Carter, 1879)	Damirina laccadivensis (Thomas, 1989) and Aka laccadivensis (Thomas 1989)	KLP & MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
38.	Acarnus souriei (Lévi, 1952)	Acanthacarnus souriei (Lévi, 1952)	KVT & KLP	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Coelosphaeridae
39.	Lissodendoryx (Waldoschmittia) schmidti (Ridley, 1884)	Damiriana schmidti (Ridley, 1884)	KVT, SHU, KLP, MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
	Family: Myxillidae
40.	Myxilla (Ectyomyxilla) arenaria (Dendy, 1905)	Myxilla arenaria (Dendy, 1905)	KLP	Thomas (1989) [19]
41.	Myxilla sp.		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
	Family: Tedaniidae
42.	Tedania (Tedania) anhelans (Vio in Olivi, 1792)	Tedania anhelans (lieberakuhn ?)	KVT, SUH, KPL, AND, MCY, KDM, & AMN	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
	Family: Microcionidae Subfamily: Ophlitaspongiinae
43.	Antho (Plocamia) manaarensis (Carter, 1880)	Plocamilla manaarensis (Carter, 1880)	MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
44.	Echinoclathria rimosa (Ridley, 1884)	Ophlitaspongia rimosa (Ridley, 1884)	AGT	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Subfamily: Microcioninae
45.	Clathria (Microciona) aceratoobtusa (Carter, 1887)	Microciona aceratoobtusa (Carter, 1887)	KVT & SUH	Thomas (1989) [19]
46.	Clathria (Microciona) rhopalophora (Hentschel, 1912)	Microciona rhopalophora (Hentschel, 1912)	SUH	Thomas (1989) [19]
47.	Clathria (Thalysias) reinwardti (Vosmaer, 1880)	Clathria reinwardti (Vosmaer, 1880)	MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
48.	Clathria (Thalysias) procera (Ridley, 1884)	Clathira procera (Schmidt, 1862)	AGT	Gopi and Ajithkumar, (2012) [22]
49.	Clathria (Thalysias) vulpina (Lamarck, 1814)	Clathria procera	KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
50.	Clathria (Clathria) indica (Dendy, 1889)		KDM & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
51.	Clathira spp.		AGT	Gopi and Ajithkumar, (2012) [22]
	Family: Mycalidae
52.	Mycale grandis (Gray, 1867)		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
53.	Mycale (Zygomycale) parishii (Bowerbank, 1875)	Zygomycale parishii (Bowerbank, 1875)	MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]; George et al. (2020) [20]
	Order: Clionaida Family: Spirastrellidae
54.	Spirastrella coccinea (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864)		KVT, AND & MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Clionaidae
55.	Cervicornia cuspidifera (Lamarck, 1815)	Spirastrella cuspidifera (Lamarck, 1815)	SUH & MCY	Thomas (1969,1980, 1989) [13,16,19]
56.	Cervicornia inconstans comb (nov) George et al., 2020		AGT	George et al. (2020) [20]
57.	Spheciospongia inconstans (Dendy, 1887)	Spirastrella inconstans (Dendy, 1887)	KVT, SUH, MCY, AND, AMN, KLT, AGT, KLP & KDM	Thomas (1969,1980, 1989) [13,1619]; Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
58.	Spheciospongia vagabunda (Ridley, 1884)		MCY,KDM & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
59.	Spheciospongia sp.		AGT, KDM & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
60.	Cliothosa aurivillii (Lindgren, 1897)	Spirastrella aurivillii (Lindgren, 1897)	SUH, KPL, AND &AMN	Thomas (1989) [19]
61.	Cliona celata (Grant, 1826)		KVT, SUH, MCY,AND, AMN, AGT & KLP	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]
62.	Cliona viridis (Schmidt, 1862)		KVT, KPL	Thomas (1989) [19]
63.	Cliona ensifera (Sollas, 1878)		KVT, SUH, KLP, AND, MCY & KDM	Thomas (1989) [19]
64.	Cliona mucronata (Sollas, 1878)		SUH,AND & MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
65.	Cliona sp		MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
66.	Pione vastifica (Hancock, 1849)	Cliona vastifica (Hancock, 1849)	KVT,SUH & KLP	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
67.	Pione carpenteri (Hancock, 1867)	Cliona carpenteri (Hancock, 1867)	KVT, SUH, KPL, AND MCY & KDM	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Placospongiidae
68.	Placospongia carinata (Bowerbank, 1858)		MCY	Thomas (1969, 198a, 1989) [13,16,19]
	Order: Suberitida Family: Halichondriidae
69.	Halichondria (Halichondria) panicea (Pallas, 1766)	Halichondria panacea (Pallas 1766)	KLP	Thomas (1989) [19]
70.	Halichondria sp		MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
71.	Amorphinopsis excavans (Carter, 1887)		KVT, SUH, KLP, AND, MCY & KDM	Thomas (1989) [19], Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [23]
72.	Amorphinopsis foetida (Dendy, 1889)	Prostylissa foetida (Dendy, 1889)	MCY	Thomas (1969, 1980, 1989) [13,16,19]
73.	Ciocalypta polymastia (Lendenfeld, 1888)		MCY	Thomas (1973, 1980, 1989) [14,16,19]
74.	Ciocalypta digitata (Dendy,1905)		KDM	George et al. (2020) [20]
75.	Spongosorites topsenti (Dendy, 1905)		KVT.	George et al. (2020) [20]
	Family: Suberitidae
76.	Suberites carnosus (Johnston, 1842)		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
77.	Suberites sp		MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
78.	Terpios cruciatus (Dendy, 1905)	Laxosuberites cruciatus (Dendy, 1905)	MCY, SUH, KDM, AGT & KVT.	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]; George et al. (2020) [20]
79.	Psedosuberites sp.		KPL & MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
80.	Aaptos aaptos (Schmidt, 1864)		MCY	Thomas (1969,1980, 1989) [13,16,19]
81.	Terpios hoshinota (Rützler & Muzik, 1993)		BNG, TNK	Rocktim et al. (2019) [24]
	Order: Bubarida Family: Bubaridae
82.	Bubaris sp.		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
	Family: Dictyonellidae
83.	Acanthella cavernosa (Dendy, 1922)		MCY	Thomas (1969,1980, 1989) [13,16,19]
	Family: Desmanthidae
84.	Desmanthus rhabdophorus (Hentschel, 1912)	Lophacanthus rhabdophorus (Hentschel, 1912)	MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
	Order: Tethyida Family: Timeidae
85.	Timea stellivarians (Carter, 1880)		MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
86.	Timea stellata (Bowerbank, 1866)		AMN	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Tethyidae
87.	Tethya robusta (Bowerbank, 1873)		SUH, MCY, KDM	Thomas (1969, 1980, 1989) [13,16,19]
89.	Tethya japonica (Sollas, 1888)		MCY & KDM	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
90.	Tethya diploderma (Schmidt, 1870)		SUH & MCY	Thomas (1989) [19] Parbhakar et al., (2013) [23]
91.	Stellitethya repens (Schmidt, 1870)	Tethytimea repens (Schmidt, 1870)	MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
92.	Xenospongia sp.,		MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
	Order: Biemnida Family: Rhabderemiidae
93.	Rhabderemia prolifera (Annandale, 1915)		KVT, SHU, KLP, AND & MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Biemnidae
94.	Biemna fortis (Topsent, 1897)		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
95.	Biemna ehrenbergi (Keller,1889)		KDM,AGT & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
96.	Sigmaxinella flabellate (Carter, 1885)	Sigmaxinella flabellata (Dendy, 1867)	AGT	Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]
	Order: Agelasida Family: Agelasidae
97.	Agelas mauritiana (Carter, 1883)		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
98.	Agelas ceylonica (Dendy, 1905)		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
99.	Agelas sp.		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]
	Order: Axinellida Family: Raspailiidae Subfamily: Echinodictyinae
100.	Echinodictyum longistylum (Thomas, 1968)		MCY	Thomas (1980, 1989) [16,19]; Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
	Family: Heteroxyidae
101.	Myrmekioderma granulatum (Esper, 1794)	Myrmekioderma granulate (Esper, 1794)	MCY	Thomas (1969,1980, 1989) [13,16,19]
	Family: Axinellidae
102.	Axinella donnani (Bowerbank, 1873)		KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
103.	Axinella manus (Dendy, 1905)		MCY & KDM	George et al. (2020) [20]
104.	Axinella tenuidigitata(Dendy, 1905 )		KDM,AGT & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
105.	Dragmacidon agariciforme (Dendy, 1905)		MCY	George et al. (2020) [20]
106.	Auletta aurantiaca Dendy, 1889		MCY	George et al. (2020) [20]
107.	Phycopsis sp1		AGT	Thomas (1989) [19]
108.	Phycopsis sp2		MCY	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Order: Scopalinida Family: Scopalinidae
109.	Stylissa carteri (Dendy,1889)		MCY & KDM	George et al. (2020) [20]
110.	Stylissa petrosioides comb (nov) George et al., 2020		AGT & KVT.	George et al. (2020) [20]
	Subclass: Keratosa Order: Dictyoceratida Family: Dysideidae
111.	Dysidea fragilis (Montagu, 1814)		KLP, MCY, KLT & AGT	Thomas (1979, 1989) [15,19]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]; Parbhakar et al (2013) [23]
112.	Dysidea granulosa (Bergquist, 1965)		KVT & AGT	Feby and Nair (2010) [21]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [23]; George et al. (2020) [20]
113.	Lamellodysidea herbacea (Keller, 1889)	Dysidea herbacea (Keller, 1889)	KLP,MCY,KLT & AGT	Thomas (1979, 1989) [15,19]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]
	Family: Spongiidae
114.	Spongia (Spongia) ceylonensis (Dendy, 1905)	Spongia officinalis var. ceylonensis (Dendy, 1905)	MCY, KVT, SUH,AND, AMN, KLT, AGT, KLP KPT	Thomas (1979, 1989) [15,19]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]; Prabhakr et al. (2013) [23]; George et al. (2020) [20]
115.	Spongia aff. Ceylonensis (nov) George et al., 2020		MCY &KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
116.	Spongia (Spongia) sp.		KDM	George et al. (2020) [20]
117.	Hippiospongia sp.		KVT, SUH, KLP, AND, MCY, KDM, AMN, KPT	Thomas (1989) [19]
118.	Hyattella cribriformis (Hyatt, 1877)		KVT, MCY, AMN, KLP & AGT	Thomas (1979, 1989) [15,19]; Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]
119.	Hyattella intestinalis (Lamarck, 1814)		KDM	George et al. (2020) [20]
120.	Hyattella aff. Intestinalis (nov) George et al., 2020		KDM	George et al. (2020) [20]
121.	Hyattella tubaria Lendenfeld, 1889		KDM & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
122.	Hyattella cavernosa (Pallas, 1766)		KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
123.	Hyattella aff. cavernosa (nov) George et al., 2020		MCY & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
	Family: Thorectidae Subfamily: Thorectinae
124.	Hyrtios erectus (Keller, 1889)	Hyrtios erectus (Keller, 1889)	KLP & AGT	Thomas (1989) [19]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]
125.	Phyllospongia foliascens (Pallas, 1766)		SUH,MCY,KLT	Thomas (1979, 1989) [15,19]
126.	Fasciospongia cavernosa (Schmidt, 1862)		KLP, AND, KDM, MCY & AMN	Thomas (1989) [19]; Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
127.	Thorectopsamma sp.		KLP	Thomas (1989) [19]
128.	Fasciospongia anomala (Dendy, 1905)		KDM, AGT & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
129.	Hyrtios reticulatus (Thiele, 1899)		MCY,KDM & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
130.	Hyrtios sp.		AGT & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
131.	Luffariella herdmani (Dendy, 1905)		KDM, AGT & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
	Subfamily: Phyllospongiinae
132.	Lendenfeldia dendyi (Lendenfeld, 1889)	Phyllospongia dendyi (Lendenfeld, 1889	MCY	Thomas (1973 1979,1989) [14,15,19]
	Order: Dendroceratida Family: Darwinellidae
133.	Dendrilla cactos (Selenka, 1867)		KVT, SHU, KLP	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Family: Irciniidae
134.	Ircinia ramose (Keller 1889)		BNG	Parameswaren et al. (1989) [28]
135.	Ircinia compana (Lamark, 1814)	Ircinia compana	MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
136.	Ircinia vallata (Dendy, 1887)		MCY, KDM & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
	Family: Dictyodendrillidae
137.	Spongionella nigra (Dendy 1889)		AGT & KVT	George et al. (2020) [20]
	Subclass: Verongimorpha Order: Verongiida Family: Pseudoceratinidae
138.	Pseudoceratina purpurea (Carter, 1880)	Psammaplysilla purpurea (Carter, 1880)	KVT, SUH, MCY,AND, AMN, KDM & AGT	Thomas (1989) [19]; Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]; Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]; George et al. (2020) [20]
	Family: Ianthellidae
139.	Ianthella flabelliformis (Linnaeus, 1759)		AGT	Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]
	Order: Chondrillida Family: Chondrillidae
140.	Chondrilla sacciformis (Carter, 1879)		SUH	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Class: Homoscleromorpha Order:Homosclerophorida Family: Plakinidae
141.	Plakinastrella minor (Dendy, 1916)	Dercitopsis minor (Dendy, 1916)	SUH	Thomas (1989) [19]
	Class: Calcarea Subclass: Calcinea Order: Clathrinida Family: Leucettidae
142.	Pericharax heteroraphis (Poléjaeff, 1883)		AGT	Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]
143.	Leucetta chagosensis (Dendy, 1913)		MCY, KDM, AGT & KVT	Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]; Van Soest (2018) [33]; George et al. (2020) [20]
	Family: Clathrinidae
144.	Clathrina sp.		AGT, MCY	Gopi and Ajithkumar (2012) [22]; Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]
	Subclass: Calcaronea Order: Leucosolenida Family: Sycettidae
145.	Sycon ciliatum (Fabricius, 1780)	Scypha ciliata	MCY	Parbhakar et al. (2013) [23]

Location code and Names: MCY- Minicoy, KVT- Kavaratti, AND- Androth, AGT- Agatti, KDM- Kadmat, AMN- Amini, KLT- Kiltan, SUH-Suhali, KPT- Kalpitti, BNG- Bangarum, TNK- Thinnakara.

Table 1: The List of Sponge reported from Lakshadweep Islands.

Sl.No.	Name Mentioned in the Reviwed Literaure	Accepted Name
1	Callyspongia tubulosa de Laubenfels, 1936	Callyspongia (Callyspongia) tubulosa (Linnaeus, 1759)
2	Clathira procera Schmidt, 1862	Clathria (Thalysias) procera (Ridley, 1884)
3	Dysidea fragilis Gray, 1867	Dysidea fragilis (Montagu, 1814)
4	Dysidea granulosa Gray, 1867	Dysidea granulosa Bergquist, 1965
5	Ecionemia acervus Bowerbank, 1864	Ecionemia acervus Bowerbank, 1862
6	Haliclona nematifera Grant, 1836	Haliclona nematifera (De Laubenfels, 1954) now accepted as Chalinula nematifera (de Laubenfels, 1954)
7	Hyattella cribriformis Lendenfeld, 1888	Hyattella cribriformis (Hyatt, 1877)
8	Lanthella flabelliformis Schmidt, 1862	Ianthella flabelliformis (Linnaeus, 1759)
9	Leucetta chagosensis Haeckei, 1872	Leucetta chagosensis Dendy, 1913
10	Psammaplysilla purpurea Keller, 1889	Psammaplysilla purpurea (Carter, 1880) now accepted as Pseudoceratina purpurea (Carter, 1880)
11	Sigmadosia fibulata de Laubenfels, 1936	Sigmadocia fibulata (Schmidt, 1862) accepted as Haliclona (Gellius) fibulata (Schmidt, 1862)
12	Sigmaxinella flabellata Dendy, 1867	Sigmaxinella flabellata (Carter, 1885)

Table 2: Name Mentioned in the Reviwed Literature and Accepted in Database.