Studies on Indian Sponges V. Two new records of silicious sponges belonging to the families Myxilliade Hentschel and Spirastrellidae Hentschel from the Indian region

The present author, during an extensive collection of sponges from the coastal waters of India, has come across two interesting species of sponges and these are described herein. The first one is Hymedesmia mertoni Hentschel. Its previous records are from Aru Island (Hentschel, 1912) and Great Barrier Reef (Burton, 1934). The present discovery of this has greatly extended its distribution westward to Indian Ocean. Similarly the other species, Spirastrella pachyspira Levi is originally known from Red Sea (Levi, 1958), and later from Western Indian Ocean (Levi, 1961, Vacelet and Vasseur, 1965). The present record of the same from Indian region, hence, widens its distribution in Indian Ocean