A new sponge discovered at Dusky Sound in Fiordland. Photo: Supplied / Niwa / Mike Page
Fifteen species of marine sponge have been discovered in a new study.
In the latest NIWA Biodiversity Memoir, researchers examined and registered over 250 sponge specimens from the Latrunculiidae family, discovering 14 new species and one new fossil species.
Marine biologist Dr Carina Sim-Smith said the study focused on sponges from New Zealand and Antarctica.
Sponges are a key habitat-forming animal in New Zealand's marine environment, providing food, shelter, and a surface for other marine life to grow from.
Sim-Smith said fundamentally it was important to know what was in our world.
"We can't assess what impacts things like climate change and fishing and sedimentation have on our marine environment if we don't actually know what species are there in the first place."
This sponge was found in waters around the Poor Knights islands. Photo: Supplied / ClearSight Consultants / Carina Sim-Smith
She said it was also an exciting discovery as sponges often have chemicals which were used as the basis of anti-cancer drugs and anti-viral drugs.
Sim-Smith said the study was formed from "a whole lot of museum specimens that we've had in the NIWA collection for a number of years".
Some even dated back to the 1960s.
She said identifying new species was a "time-consuming" process, so specimens were stored until identification could take place.
It was estimated one third of the overall sponge collection in museums were "new species that are not yet described", she said.