Presence of the Indo – Pacific genus Petrosaspongia Bergquist, 1995 (Porifera: Demospongiae) in the Atlantic with description of a new species (P. pharmamari n. sp.) Author Uriz, María - Jesús Author Cebrian, Emma text Zootaxa 2006 1209 61 68 journal article 50770 10.5281/zenodo.172425 e0561e91-da08-44c5-ae9c-870cdda487b9 1175­5326 172425 Petrosaspongia pharmamari n. sp. Material examined: 1 Specimen , 15 m depth, rocky bottom, El Hierro, Canary Islands. Holotype Nº CEAB .POR. BIO –190, Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes, CSIC , Spain . Etymology: The species is dedicated to Pharmamar Company, for leading investigations in the field of new anti­cancer drugs from marine organisms and, particularly, from sponges. Type locality: El Hierro (Canary Islands, North Atlantic) sublittoral. Description External features Massive, lobulose specimen 6 cm high, 8 cm wide. Consistency very hard, almost incompressible. Ectosome detachable from the choanosome in shreds. Choanosome dense. Surface even, microconulose, unarmoured except at the conules, where the end of the primary fibres arises ( Fig. 2 A). Oscules inconspicuous. Colour dark brown outside, beige inside. Skeleton Densely reticulate. Formed by irregular meshes of 35–660 m in diameter. Primary fibres: Irregular in thickness ( 532–975 m ), cored with abundant foreign debris ( Fig. 2 B). Secondary fibres: Free of foreign debris ( 45–115 m in diameter) ( Fig. 3 B), strongly laminated ( Fig. 2 C & 3D). Through SEM, the surface of the secondary fibres appears rippled in a longitudinal direction ( Figs. 2 C & D). They form fenestrate plates at the zones where they join the primary fibres ( Fig. 4 A). FIGURE 2. P. pharmamari n. sp. : (A) holotype showing an unarmoured surface with protruding primary fibres, (B) primary fibres (double arrow) cored with abundant foreign debris, (C) strongly laminated secondary fibres, (D) surface of a secondary fibre showing longitudinal ripples (arrow). SEM pictures. Considerable amounts of sand granules and other foreign materials are scattered throughout the choanosome ( Fig. 4 B). Tertiary network made of very thin fibres ( 8–10 m in diameter) is visible only in some places, as in the type species of Petrosaspongia ( Fig. 4 C). Distribution: Canary Islands, El Hierro (North Atlantic), rocky sublittoral, 15 m depth.