Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Distribution and affinities of the sponge Fauna of the Indian Region.

Volume 25 Issue 1&2

P. A. Thomas

Abstract

The 'Indian Region' as defined here covers an area bounded by Long 60°E and 100GE with its southern limit fixed at Lat. 10°S The general distribution of 481 species of sponges of the Indian Region, in widely separated zoogerographic areas such as the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Australian region, Pacific Ocean, the Antaractic and Arctic Oceans is discussed and faunistic inter-relationship of the above regions is assessed. Studies revealed that 35.4 % of the Indian Region's Demospongean species are common to the Australian region, 21.1 % to Pacific Ocean, 20.4% to Red Sea and 18.3 % to the Atlantic, while the relationship with the remaining zoogeographic areas given above is negligible The Hexactinellid and Calcareous species also have more or less similar pattern of distribution as that of Demospongiae

Date : 30-12-1983