Sanamyan N.P.1, Sanamyan K.E.1, Tabachnik K.R.2 2012. The first species of Actiniaria, Spongiactis japonica gen.n., sp.n. (Cnidaria: Anthozoa), an obligate symbiont of a glass sponge // Invertebrate Zoology. Vol.9. No.2: 127–141 [in English].
1 Kamchatka Branch of Pacific Geographical Institute, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Partizanskaya Str. 6, 683000 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia; e-mail: actiniaria@sanamyan.com
2 P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky Pr. 36, 117997 Moscow, Russia; e-mail: tabachnick@mail.ru
doi: 10.15298/invertzool.09.2.05
KEY WORDS: Sea anemones, sponges, symbiosis, Hyalonema, Pacific.
ABSTRACT: Spongiactis japonica, a new genus and species of Actiniaria, an obligate symbiont of hexactinellid sponge is described from Sagami Bay, Japan, Pacific Ocean. Numerous small specimens of this sea anemone live in the caves in a superficial layer of the sponge Hyalonema sieboldi and probably reproduce asexually. The species has no acontia and it is taxonomically related to Actinoscyphiidae (which members are believed have lost acontia) and to Hormathiidae (comprising species possessing acontia) but cannot be accommodated in either family. It is therefore assigned to the new family Spongiactinidae fam.n. The two related families, Actinoscyphiidae and Hormathiidae may well be united.