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Title South African Species List of Marine Sponges (Phylum Porifera)
Authors

Samaai, Toufiek
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Payne, Robyn P.
Anchor Environmental Consultants CC

Janson, Liesl
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment

Publisher Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (2026)
Contributors

Contact Person: Samaai, Toufiek
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Project Member: Payne, Robyn P.
Anchor Environmental Consultants CC

Project Member: Janson, Liesl
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Abstract This dataset provides a species list of 422 described sponge species currently known to occur in South Africa's mainland maritime domain (South African territorial seas + Exclusive Economic Zone), serving as the contemporary baseline knowledge for this phylum at this time (2026). Further details are available in the published manuscript Morrissey et al. 2026 'Marine benthic invertebrate biodiversity in South Africa: Advances and gaps in taxonomic and genetic knowledge' (https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.amb.2026.07.001).
Methods

The Porifera species list was compiled by experts actively working on this phylum. Only species that are formally described and accepted in the World Register of Marine Species (https://www.marinespecies.org) are included in this species list. This list updates numbers reported in earlier reviews by Gibbons et al. (1999) and Griffiths et al. (2010), and serves as the baseline reference point for 2026. Where possible, species inventories were cross-referenced with regional literature, museum records, and publicly available biodiversity databases. Further details can be found in Morrissey et al. 2026 (https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.amb.2026.07.001).

Quality Control:
This Porifera species list was expertly curated to include only formally described, WoRMS‑accepted taxa, and was cross‑referenced against historical regional reviews (Gibbons et al., 1999; Griffiths et al., 2010), museum collections, and public biodiversity databases to ensure accuracy. It serves as the static 2026 baseline, but users should note that taxonomic changes occur continuously. Full methodological details and the required citation are provided in Morrissey et al. (2026; doi:10.1016/bs.amb.2026.07.001)

Taxonomic information

General Taxonomic Coverage:
Phylum Porifera occurring in South Africa mainland maritime domain.

Taxonomic Classification
Kingdom: Animalia | Phylum: Porifera

Data
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Temporal extent
Geographic extent

South African Mainland Maritime domain

North: -26.858
South: -38.172
West: 13.348
East: 36.573

Keywords ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES , BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION , CC-BY-SA 4.0 , completed , grid , INDIAN OCEAN , Invertebrate Abundance and Distribution (emerging) , Mean Sea Level , meter , SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN , Species distributions , SPONGES , WGS 84
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