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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.