Rossellid glass sponge
Dr Michelle Kelly holds a rossellid glass sponge
A large undescribed species of rossellid glass sponge in the genus "Hyalascus' Ijima, 1896.
A NIWA Biodiversity Memoir on the family Rossellidae is due to be written later this year (2018) describing this species and others in the family, a collaboration between Dr Michelle Kelly based in Auckland and Dr Henry Reiswig, a sponge taxonomist based in Canada.
This species is common off New Zealand’s Chatham Rise between 130-1400 metres deep and plenty of specimens sit on the shelves of NIWA’s invertebrate collection awaiting description work.