An annotated and illustrated identification guide to common mesophotic reef sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae, Hexactinellida, and Homoscleromorpha) inhabiting Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and vicinities Author Diaz, Maria Cristina https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9485-0011 Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Pierce, FL, USA taxochica@gmail.com Author Nuttall, Marissa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1384-8978 Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, Galveston, TX, USA & CPC Inc, Galveston, TX, USA Author Pomponi, Shirley A. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4982-1515 Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Pierce, FL, USA Author Ruetzler, Klaus National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D. C., USA Author Klontz, Sarah Genetic Disease Research Branch, NHGRI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA Author Adams, Christi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8411-4595 Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, Galveston, TX, USA Author Hickerson, Emma L. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2595-8878 Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, Galveston, TX, USA Author Schmahl, G. P. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5657-5204 Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, Galveston, TX, USA text ZooKeys 2023 2023-05-11 1161 1 68 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1161.93754 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1161.93754 1313-2970-1161-1 4CE0D6C5C3044F748387FCC71F8F8AC0 97BBCF0865EA537F8147171EA5BBA1B5 Pleraplysilla sp. nov. 2 Fig. 56 Diagnostic features. Massive bushy, 5 cm wide, 7 cm high. Tan in color alive. Sharp conules, 2-3 mm high, separated by 3-5 mm. The sponge is compressible but firm. The sponge has dendritic fibers, pale in color, which incorporate broken spicules. This sponge is currently identified as an undescribed species of Pleraplysilla . 28S analysis of this specimen clearly places it within the Order Dictyoceratida , but not within the Family Dysideidae . 18S analysis places it as 99.5% similar to Pleraplysilla spinifera , the type of the genus; however, that is an eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean species. This result supports the generic assignation of this new species from GOM (Diaz, Segura, and Pomponi, unpublished data). Figure 56. Pleraplysilla sp. 2, 47 m deep. Sample GFOE3-19. Similar species. Its massive habit is similar to that of the shallow Caribbean mangrove species Pleraplysilla stocki , and to Pleraplysilla spinifera from the Mediterranean. Distribution and abundance. The species has been collected once from FGBNMS, and once from Pulley Ridge, at the southeast GOM (MCD). Ecology. Coralline algal reef. Identification. Iris Segura, MCD. Reference. van Soest 1978 .