Sponges of the Carmel Pinnacles

California's network of marine protected areas was created to protect
the diversity and abundance of native marine life, but the status of some
taxa is very poorly known. Here we describe the sponges (phylum Porifera)
from the Carmel Pinnacles State Marine Reserve, as assessed by a
SCUBA-based survey in shallow waters. Of the 29 sponge species documented,
12 (41%) of them were previously unknown. Using a combination of
underwater photography, DNA sequencing, and morphological taxonomy, we
greatly improve our understanding of the status and distribution of
previously described species and formerly describe the new species as
Hymedesmia promina, Phorbas nebulosus, Clathria
unoriginalis, Clathria rumsena, Megaciella sanctuaria, Mycale
lobos, Xestospongia ursa, Haliclona melissae, Halichondria loma,
Hymeniacidon fusiformis, Scopalina
carmela, and Obruta collector. An additional
species, Lissodendoryx topsenti (de Laubenfels 1930), is
moved to Hemimycale, and H.
polyboletus is created as a nomen novum due to preoccupation by
H. topsenti (Burton 1929). Several of the new species
appear to be rare and/or have very restricted distributions, as they were
not found at comparative survey sites outside of Carmel Bay. These results
illustrate the potential of qualitative presence/absence systematic
surveys of understudied taxa to discover and document substantial novel
diversity.