Among polychaete annelids, the establishing of close partnerships with other marine invertebrates is a common
phenomenon, constituting some of the most unusual and interesting relationships of parasitism, commensalism and mutualism
in the animal kingdom. The limited information concerning the relationship between endobiont and epibiont polychaetes and
sponges in Venezuela is evident, thus this research had as main objective to characterize the polychaete fauna associated with the
sponge Tedania ignis (DUCHASSAING & MICHELOTTI 1864) collected from mangrove roots at La Restinga Lagoon National Park,
Nueva Esparta, Venezuela. Bimonthly samplings were conducted between September 2013 and February 2014. The sponges were
manually collected at six stations of that lagoon. Polychaetes were removed, fixed in 10% formalin and preserved in 75%
ethanol. Dissection and observation of taxonomic structures were performed using a stereoscopic microscope or a compound
microscope as appropriate; taxonomic identification of polychaetes was performed using regional taxonomic keys. A total of
5822 specimens were examined and 15 species were identified, of which Syllis cf. fasciata and S. gerlachi, are new records for
Venezuela, increasing the knowledge of the biodiversity of this important group of annelids in the region.