Deep-water sponge fauna from the mud volcanoes of the Gulf of Cadiz (North Atlantic, Spain)

Mud volcanoes are singular seafloor structures classified as ‘sensitive habitats’. Here we report on the sponge fauna from a field of eight mud volcanoes located in the Spanish margin of the northern Gulf of Cadiz (North-eastern Atlantic), at depths ranging from 380 to 1146 m. Thirty-eight beam-trawl samplings were conducted (covering over 61,000 m 2 ) from 2010 to 2012, in the frame of a EC-LIFE + INDEMARES grant. A total of 1659 specimens were...