Spongicola goyi Saito & Komai, 2008

(Figs. 3, 6B)

Spongicola goyi Saito & Komai, 2008: 21, figs. 11–15 (Type locality: New Caledonia).— Goy 2010a: 224; 2015: 307, figs. 5, 6.— De Grave & Fransen 2011: 251.— Bochini et al. 2020: 8.— Schnabel et al. 2021: 14, figs. 1–4.

Material examined. Taiwan 2003, stn CD 229, 22°13.35’N, 120°01.90’E, 30 Aug 2003, 1060– 880 m, 1 male 4.9 mm cl (NTOU M02477). R.V. Ocean Researcher 1, cruise 1135, stn CST 12, 22°04.86’N, 118°52.78’E, 29 Apr 2016, 1346– 758 m, 1 ovig. female cl 4.8 mm (NTOU M02478).

Diagnosis. Rostrum straight; dorsal margin armed with 7 teeth; ventral margin with 1 small subdistal tooth. Carapace smooth on postorbital region, antennal spine present, hepatic spine moderately small, cluster of small anteroventral spines present, cervical groove rudimentary. Conera relatively small, narrower than eyestalk, darkly pigmented. Third pereiopod overreaching antennal scale by chela; ischium with large dorsodistal spine, merus with row of small teeth on lateral surface and ventral margin, carpus unarmed, palm with dorsal margin distinctly carinate and armed with row of small denticles, dactylus with 3 teeth on dorsal margin. Pleon smooth; second pleonite with rudimentary transverse dorsal carina. Second to fifth pleura each terminating ventraly in small spine, anterior margin with 1 small spine; fifth pleuron bearing 1 spine on posterior margin. Sixth pleonite widened posteriorly, with 1 small spine on anterior margin of pleuron. Telson with dorsal surface lacking proximal spines, dorsolateral carinae each bearing 4 large spines, lateral margin with proximal concavity and 1 large tooth at midlength.

Coloration. Body whitish translucent, mouthparts reddish. Cornea of eye dark brown. Internal organs inside carapace reddish, greenish and yellowish white. Fingers of chela of third pereiopod with tips and cutting edges yellowish translucent. Eggs greenish blue.

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific: Madagascar, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and New Zealand, and now Taiwan; at depths of 315 to 1346 m.

Remarks. Spongicoloa goyi is most similar to S. andamanicus (Saito & Komai 2008). They mainly differ in the spines at the anterovental region (or anterior part of the branchial region) of the carapace are much smaller in S. goyi (Fig. 3A vs. Fig. 2A); and the merus of the third pereiopod being armed with large spines at the distal part of both the dorsal and ventral margins in S. andamanicus (Figs. 2B, D), but such large spines are absent in S. goyi (Fig. 3D).