Carnivorous sponges from the Australian Bathyal and Abyssal zones collected during the RV Investigator 2017 Expedition

This research presents 17 new species of carnivorous sponges from the family Cladorhizidae sampled at bathyal and abyssal depths off the east coast of Australia during the RV  Investigator  2017 Abyss Expedition. The species are comprised of six genera:  Abyssocladia escheri  sp. nov.,  A .  annae  sp. nov.,  A. gliscofila  sp. nov.,  Asbestopluma (Asbestopluma) maxisigma  sp. nov.,  Cladorhiza australis  nov. sp.,  C. poritea  sp. nov.,  C. investigator  sp. nov.,  C. moniqueae  sp. nov.,  C. pentaeiros  sp. nov ., Chondrocladia (Chondrocladia) freycinetensis  sp. nov.,  Ch. (Ch.) callistemonex  sp. nov.,  Ch. (Ch.) zygainadentonis  sp. nov.,  Lycopodina nikitawimandi  sp. nov.,  L. helios  sp. nov.,  L. cassida  sp. nov.,  L. brochidodroma  sp. nov. and  Euchelipluma claudochela  sp. nov. Only three carnivorous species,  A. desmophora ,  As. (As.) desmophora  and  C.  ( Meliiderma )  tasmaniensis,  have been recorded from Australia previously .  This expedition also recovered two described species commonly recorded from the Southern Hemisphere  Ch. (Ch.) clavata  and  L. calyx.  This paper also redescribes two species from the South Pacific i.e.  C. mirabilis  and  C. similis .