A survey of comparative ichthyotoxicity in marine sponges from shallow and deep water in the Southern province of New Caledonia was conducted. Test fish #Gambusia affinis$ (#Vertebrata, Pisces$) were exposed to aqueous macerates of 30 shallow water and 30 deep-water sponges. Mortality counts and behavioural changes were recorded over twelve hours, readings taken on a geometric time scale. The responses exhibited by the fish ranged from rapid mortality and varying level of distress and narcotization, to effects indistinguishable from controls. Sponges were classified into three major toxicity groups : 100 % lethal, toxic (<100 % lethal with deleterious effects) and non-toxic (indistinguishable from controls). There was little or no overlap in species composition between the shallow species. The frequency of toxicity was generally equivalent between shallow and deep-water sponges. Observed toxicity levels varied widely both in the deep and shallow species
