Sponge and mollusk associations in a benthic filter-feeding assemblage in the middle and lower Xingu River, Brazil

During a pilot survey, sponges and mollusks were sampled from the bottom of the middle Xingu River (rapids) and lower Xingu River (ria) via hand-picking in shallows and trawling and surface-supplied dives in deeper waters. The survey revealed a benthic community composed of eight sponge species in four genera and three families, and added six species to the Xingu Basin fauna. Sponges exhibited distinct variation in body shape corresponding to...