Poecilosclerida, Desmacididae
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Common Name(s): | Lumpy overgrowing sponge, pink rope sponge |
| Growth Form: | Highly variable, from thick crusts to massive lobate, or sparsely to profusely branching (branches 1-4 cm in diameter). |
| Surface: | Smooth, with pale barely visible dermal canals towards the oscules. |
| Color: | Pink or pale reddish through lavender-gray to almost white externally; always darker red internally. |
| Consistency: | Soft, compressible and elastic, easy to tear. The interior is crumbly. |
| Oscules: | Elevated, 0.5-2 cm across, with a white conical membrane. |
| Skeletal Components (Spicules, Fibers): | Straight or slightly curved rods with 2 pointed ends (oxeas), 120-160 x 3-5 μm. Microscleres include those with a curved shaft and equal recurved end plates (arcuate isochelas) ~16-20 μm long, and two sizes of C-shapes (sigmas) 11-16 and 20-40 μm long. |
| Skeletal Architecture: | Exterior: tough; a tight meshwork of sand and native (not foreign) spicules with more or less round meshes 25-80 μm in diameter. Interior: cavernous; a loose meshwork of multispicular tracts that run to the surface, connected by single strewn spicules. |
| Ecology: | Widely distributed in mangrove, seagrass and shallow reef habitats. An early colonizer of shallow artificial reefs. |
| Distribution: | South Florida and throughout the Caribbean Sea to at least 18 m. |
| Notes: | Referred to as Holopsamma helwigi in Humann & Deloach (2002). The two are probably conspecific, with D. anchorata the senior synonym. H. helwigi lacks microscleres and incorporates more foreign material interiorly. |
| Reference(s): | van Soest (1984), Zea (1987). |