On some deep sea sponges from the Gulf of Mannar, with descriptions of three new species

In this paper, 9 species of Demospongiae collected during the cruises of the T.N.P. fishing vessel " Klaus Sunnana " in the Gulf of Mannar are dealt with. Of these, 3 species, viz., Hymedesmia mannarensis, H. stylophora, Ectyodoryx lissostyla arc new to science and two, Microciona rhopalophora (Hentschel) and Poecillastra schulzii (Sollas) are new records from the Gulf of Mannar. All these specimens were collected by trawl net from depths varying between 180 and 325 metres. The type material are deposited in the Reference Collection Museum of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute Regional Centre, Mandapam Camp