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The fatty acid (FA) composition of Demospongiae species from the Sea of Okhotsk was studied. Fifteen sponge species were investigated for the first time, and the previously studied species Desmacella rosea and Myxilla incrustans were reexamined for their FA composition. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed 150 different fatty acids, of which 15 have not been identified in sponge lipids previously. The relative content of saturated FAs varied from 7.6 in Melonachora kobjakovae to 29.6% in Amphilectus digitata, with an average of 14.6% of total FAs. The relative content of monoenic FAs ranged from 12.8 in T. dirhaphis to 27.0% in Polymastia sp., with an average of 20.6% of total FAs. Non-methylen-interrupted, primarily unsaturated Δ5,9-FAs contributed a significantly to the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids of sponges; this being a distinguishing feature of the FA composition of the investigated group of organisms.

Sponges belonging to the genera Amphilectus Vosmaer, Esperiopsis Carter and Ulosa de Laubenfels of the family Esperiopsidae were collected during 1986 and 1988 expeditions of the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis (at that time the National Museum of Natural History at Leiden and the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam) in waters off the coasts of Mauritania and the Cape Verde Islands. Four new species, Amphilectus utriculus sp. nov., Amphilectus strepsichelifer sp. nov., Esperiopsis cimensis sp. nov., Ulosa capblancensis sp. nov., and two already known species, Amphilectus cf. fucorum (Esper) and Ulosa stuposa (Esper) are described and discussed.

Amphilectus strepsichelifer sp. nov. Fig. 4 Etymology The name is a combination of strepsis (L.) = twisted, and chelifer (L.) = bearing chelae, reflecting the twisted condition of the chelae. Material examined Holotype ZMA Por. 07564, Cape Verde Islands, W of S��o Vicente, Canal de S��o Vicente, depth 348-354 m, coll. R. W.M. Van Soest, CANCAP 7 Expedition stat. 172/03, 16.8833��N 25.1167��W, rectangular dredge, 7 Sep. 1986. Description Pedunculate sponge (Fig. 4A), with long thin smooth stalk and abruptly attached small ovate main body. Main body flattened, but solid (not hollow). Upper surface somewhat rectangular, caused by preparation damage. Surface irregular, shaggy. Colour light brown alive, grey in alcohol. Size of main body 12 x 6 mm, stalk 35 mm long, 1.2 mm thick. SKELETON. Of main body plumose, rather than plumoreticulate, with diffuse spicule bundles directed at right angles to the surface (Fig. 4B), where they form loose brushes. Connecting spicules few and arranged irregularly. Chelae in loose groups in a subectosomal layer at the base of the surface brushes (Fig. 4C). Few chelae in the interior. SPICULES. (Fig. 4 D-E) Styles, palmate isochelae. STYLES. (Fig. 4D, D 1) Thin, slightly curved, 396- 430.5 -462 x 3- 4.6 - 7 ��m. PALMATE ISOCHELAE. (Fig. 4E) Predominantly with ���twisted��� shaft, causing the alae of opposite ends to face different angles, a minority of the chelae appearing ���normal��� but these are of the same size as the twisted ones, and upon closer examination appear to be slightly twisted as well, 32- 33.7 - 36 ��m. Distribution and ecology Known only from the type locality between the islands of S��o Vicente and Santo Ant��o, Cape Verde Islands (Fig. 1, loc. 4), hard bottom, at depths below 300 m. Remarks The species is assigned to Amphilectus on the same basis as A. utriculus sp. nov. The species stands out among stalked Amphilectus species (see above in the remarks on A. utriculus sp. nov.) by the peculiar twisted condition of the palmate isochelae. Additionally the thin stalk carrying the main body without a clear intermediate zone is characteristic and not found in the other North Atlantic Amphilectus species., Published as part of Van Soest, Rob W. M., Beglinger, Elly J. & de Voogd, Nicole J., 2012, Sponges of the family Esperiopsidae (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) from Northwest Africa, with the descriptions of four new species, pp. 1-21 in European Journal of Taxonomy 18 on pages 7-9, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2012.18, http://zenodo.org/record/3857876

Genus Amphilectus Vosmaer, 1880 Remarks Amphilectus differs from the closely related genus Esperiopsis in the lack of additional microscleres and the generally smaller size of the styles. The difference in the latter character was fixed on 400 ��m (Van Soest & Hajdu 2002b), but this is to be interpreted loosely, as several species in both genera possess styles with lengths just under or above 400 ��m. The genus to date contains 17 species (Van Soest et al. 2012), predominantly from temperate and cold water, evenly spread over the North Atlantic (five species), North Pacific (three species), South Atlantic (six species), and South Pacific waters (three species). The Atlantic species are summarized in Table 1., Published as part of Van Soest, Rob W. M., Beglinger, Elly J. & de Voogd, Nicole J., 2012, Sponges of the family Esperiopsidae (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) from Northwest Africa, with the descriptions of four new species, pp. 1-21 in European Journal of Taxonomy 18 on page 3, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2012.18, http://zenodo.org/record/3857876, {"references":["Van Soest R. W. M. & Hajdu E. 2002 b. Family Esperiopsidae Hentschel, 1923. In: Hooper J. N. A. & Van Soest R. W. M. (eds) Systema Porifera. A guide to the classification of sponges: 656 - 664 .. Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York."]}

Amphilectus cf. fucorum (Esper, 1794) Fig. 5 For synonymy, see Van Soest & Hajdu 2002b: 657. Material examined ZMA Por. 06775, Mauritania, off Banc d���Arguin, depth 100 m, bottom muddy sand, coll. R.W.M. Van Soest & J.J. Vermeulen, Mauritania II Exped. Stat. 072/14, 20.0��N 17.3��W, 2.4 m Agassiz trawl, 13 Jun. 1988. ZMA Por. 06796, Mauritania, off Banc d���Arguin, depth 48-52 m, bottom muddy sand with some calcareous gravel, coll. R.W.M. Van Soest & J.J. Vermeulen, Mauritania II Exped. Stat. 082/19, 19.9833��N 17.5��W, 3.5 m Agassiz trawl, 14 Jun. 1988. ZMA Por. 06843, Mauritania, off Banc d���Arguin, depth 95-100 m, bottom muddy sand with shells, coll. R.W.M. Van Soest & J.J. Vermeulen, Mauritania II Exped. Stat. 130/09, 20.4167��N 17.6667��W, 3.5 m Agassiz trawl, 20 Jun. 1988. Description The material consists of several fragments of encrusting to irregularly ramose sponges (Fig. 5A). Consistency, soft irregular surface, colour brownish alive and beige to whitish in alcohol. Size of individual fragments 2-3 cm. SKELETON. Irregularly plumoreticulate (Fig. 5B), with loosely defined spicule bundles connected by individual spicules, general aspect rather confused. Spicules barely protruding beyond the surface. Chelae clustered and singly occurring throughout the interior. SPICULES. Styles, palmate isochelae. STYLES. (Fig. 5C, C 1) Straight or slightly curved, relatively short and robust, 198- 237.6- 276 x 9- 11.4 - 14 ��m. PALMATE ISOCHELAE. (Fig. 5D) Of ���normal��� shape, but like in A. utriculus sp. nov., the shaft is slightly incurved. 19- 23.6 - 27 ��m. Distribution and ecology Mauritania, off Banc d���Arguin (Fig. 1, loc. 2), on muddy bottom below 50 m. Elsewhere, if identification is correct, along most of the coasts of Europe, including the Western Mediterranean. This is the southernmost record of the species if Southern Ocean records (see below) are considered not conspecific. Remarks By assigning these specimens to A. fucorum, the range of this species, which was already huge, is further extended along the East Atlantic coasts. The species is common and distinctly orange-coloured in shallow water habitats of the British Isles and the W coast of France, but according to Van Soest et al. (2000) deep-water specimens may loose their colour, and such specimens may be found down to 100 m. Skeleton and spicule characteristics of the present material fall within the recorded variation, although usually styles elsewhere are thinner than those of the Mauritanian specimens. Genetic comparisons may show diversity over the range of this species and such studies are needed to decide the specific identity of the Mauritanian populations. From the other Amphilectus species from the area described above, A. cf. fucorum differs in habit and chelae (A. utriculus sp. nov. has chelae twice the size, A. strepsichelifer sp. nov. has chelae with a twisted shaft). Amphilectus informis (Stephens, 1915) from the Atlantic coast of South Africa appears to be similar based on published data. According to the original description its chelae have an incurved shaft but apparently the frontal alae of the chelae are characteristic showing a ���tubercle in front view���. However, the illustration of this feature is indistinct. Samaai & Gibbons (2005) described the species also, but their illustrations do not clarify these alleged differences. Burton (1932, 1940) recorded A. fucorum from Tristan da Cunha, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and off the coast of Argentina. Thiele (1905) recorded it from Chile. Goodwin et al. (2011) described two new Amphilectus species from the Falkland Islands, which appear to cover the Burton and Thiele records. Bergquist & Fromont (1988) recorded the European species Esperiopsis normani (Bowerbank, 1866) and Esperiopsis edwardii (Bowerbank, 1866) from New Zealand waters, but both are now considered junior synonyms of Amphilectus fucorum. This is not to say that A. fucorum occurs in New Zealand, but merely that these records should be compared critically., Published as part of Van Soest, Rob W. M., Beglinger, Elly J. & de Voogd, Nicole J., 2012, Sponges of the family Esperiopsidae (Demospongiae, Poecilosclerida) from Northwest Africa, with the descriptions of four new species, pp. 1-21 in European Journal of Taxonomy 18 on pages 9-11, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2012.18, http://zenodo.org/record/3857876, {"references":["Van Soest R. W. M. & Hajdu E. 2002 b. Family Esperiopsidae Hentschel, 1923. In: Hooper J. N. A. & Van Soest R. W. M. (eds) Systema Porifera. A guide to the classification of sponges: 656 - 664 .. Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York.","Van Soest R. W. M., Picton B. E. & Morrow C. 2000. Sponges of the North East Atlantic. In: World Biodiversity Database CD-ROM Series, Windows / Mac version 1.0. ETI Bioinformatics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam.","Samaai T. & Gibbons M. 2005. Demospongiae taxonomy and biodiversity of the Benguela region on the west coast of South Africa. African Natural History 1: 1 - 96.","Burton M. 1932. Sponges. Discovery Reports 6: 237 - 392, pls. 48 - 57.","Burton M. 1940. Las Esponjas marinas del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. (Parte 1). Anales del Museo argentino de ciencias naturales ' Bernardino Rivadavia' 40 (6): 95 - 121, pls. I-VIII.","Thiele J. 1905. Die Kiesel- und Hornschwamme der Sammlung Plate. Fauna Chiliensis III. Zoologische Jahrbucher Supplement 6: 407 - 496.","Goodwin C., Jones J., Neely K. & Brickle P. 2011. Sponge biodiversity of the Jason Islands and Stanley, Falkland Islands with descriptions of twelve new species. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 91 (2): 275 - 301. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0025315410001542","Bergquist P. R. & Fromont P. J. 1988. The Marine Fauna of New Zealand: Porifera, Demospongiae. Part. 4: Poecilosclerida. New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir 96, New Zealand oceanographic institute, Wellington."]}