New records of Indo-Pacific sponges from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands India Author Pereira, Preeti Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Haddo- 744 102, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Author Raghunathan, Chelladurai Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Haddo- 744 102, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. & Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipore- 700 053, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. text Zootaxa 2020 2020-12-08 4894 4 81 97 journal article 9308 10.11646/zootaxa.4894.1.4 56f8a697-33e1-4ece-8e49-e8bf44fb34ef 1175-5326 4315490 2F3A5F52-6DDC-4472-8083-9DDE42BBA5FE Siphonodictyon maldiviense ( Calcinai, Cerrano, Sarà & Bavestrello, 2000 ) ( Figures 5 A–D) Synonymy: Aka maldiviensis Calcinai, Cerrano, Sarà, & Bavestrello 2000: 217 , fig. 15; Calcinai, Cerrano, & Bavestrello, 2007: 1363, fig 4F–H & 6. Material examined: 2 specimens , ZSI/ANRC–20961, June 19, 2018 , Wall (a dive site), Havelock Island , Ritchie’s Archipelago , Coll. Preeti Pereira ; 1 specimen , ZSI/ANRC–20965, May 26, 2017 , Craggy Island , North Andaman , Coll. Preeti Pereira ; 1 specimen , ZSI/ANRC– 20969, May 28, 2017 , Trilby Island , North Andaman , Coll. Preeti Pereira ; 1 specimen , ZSI/ANRC–20979, October 25, 2016 , Durgapur (site I), North Andaman , Coll. M.P. Goutham-Bharathi ; 1 specimen , ZSI/ANRC–20984, February 24, 2018 , Ross Island , North Andaman , Coll. Smitanjali Choudhury ; 1 specimen , ZSI/ANRC–20989, September 11, 2018 , Sound Island , Middle Andaman ( 12°29.469′N , 92°57.660′E ), Coll. Naveen Kumar Nigam. Description: The sponge was found boring corals and the description is based only on fistules; fistulae projecting from the surface of substratum ( 2–3 cm in height and 0.5–0.9 cm in breadth) and are poly-tomously branched and tapering ( Fig. 5A ); fistulae white when alive, retaining the colour after preservation ( Fig. 5B ); consistency firm, almost brittle; oscules and ostia not visible. Skeleton: The ectosomal skeleton is arranged in triangular meshes, 50–80 µm in diameter ( Fig. 5C ). The meshes are bounded by thick multi-spicular tracts comprising bundles of oxeas, with few oxeas projecting outside the fibres. Spicules: Short, stout, hastate oxeas ( Fig. 5D ). See Table 3 for spicule morphometrics. TABLE 3. Spicule morphometrics (oxeas) of Siphonodictyon maldiviense ( Calcinai, Cerrano, Sarà & Bavestrello, 2000 ) from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Specimen	Locality	Spicule morphometrics (μm) Oxeas
ZSI/ANRC – 20961	Havelock Island, Archipelago	Ritchie’s 120.3–138.3–149.8 × 5.2–7.3–8.6
ZSI/ANRC – 20965	Craggy Island, North Andaman		124.1–135.0–145.1 × 4.6–6.7–8.5
ZSI/ANRC – 20989	Sound Island, Middle Andaman		117.4 –130.4–146.6 × 6.6–8.0–9.6

Distribution : This is the first record of Siphonodictyon maldiviense for Indian waters from the Andaman Nicobar Islands . This species was originally described by Calcinai et al. (2000) from Maldives in the Central Indian Ocean Islands province, Western Indo-Pacific realm. Lim et al. (2008) extended its distribution to the Sunda shelf in the Central Indo-Pacific realm. Remarks : Siphonodictyon maldiviense is the second species of the genus Siphonodictyon to be reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Despite recorded from several localities in the Andaman Island group (n=6), spicule morphology of this species did not vary greatly spatially.