Eurypon diversicolor, Aguilar-Camacho & Carballo, 2013

Aguilar-Camacho, Jose Maria & Carballo, Jose Luis, 2013, Raspailiidae (Porifera: Demospongiae: Axinellida) from the Mexican Pacific Ocean with the description of seven new species, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 47 (25 - 28), pp. 1663-1706 : 1690-1692

Eurypon diversicolor sp. nov.

( Figures 14C , 19 , 20 )

Material examined

Holotype: MCNM 1.01 / 660, 10 / 06 / 2003, Isla Redondas (Marietas, Nayarit), 12 m (20 ◦ 42 ′ 03 ′′ N, 105 ◦ 34 ′ 31 ′′ W) . Paratypes: 818-LEB-ICML-UNAM, 10 / 06 / 2003, Isla Redondas (Marietas, Nayarit), 12 m (20 ◦ 42 ′ 03 ′′ N, 105 ◦ 34 ′ 31 ′′ W) . 1500- LEB-ICML- UNAM, 11 / 10 / 2006, Cueva Marietas (Bahia Banderas, Nayarit), 10 m (20 ◦ 42 ′ 01 ′′ N, 105 ◦ 33 ′ 57 ′′ W).

Description

Encrusting sponge, size 3–6 cm length × 2–5 cm width and 2–10 mm thick. Oscules and ostia not observed. Surface hispid with spicule projections evenly distributed.

Consistency hard and difficult to tear. Colour in life is orange or yellow, pale in preservation ( Figure 14C ).

Skeleton

Straight choanosomal subtylostyles: 900–1710 × 10–30 µm ( Figures 19A, B , 20A ). Curved or straight acanthostyles with prominent recurved spines in two categories: 210–390 × 10–17.5 µm ( Figures 19C , 20B ) and 60–180 × 5–15 µm ( Figures 19D , 20B ) ( Table 10). The ectosomal skeleton is absent. The points of the spicules protrude externally. The choanosomal skeleton has a hymedesmoid structure. Main subtylostyles and acanthostyles are erect in a spongin layer (10–20 µm thick) ( Figure 20C ).

Remarks

Eurypon diversicolor sp. nov. is found in the Mexican Pacific Ocean. The only similar species in the Eastern Pacific is E. nigrum Bergquist 1967 . This is a darkblue encrusting sponge described from Oahu (Hawaii). It has straight tylostyles in two sizes: 1200–2400 × 6–12 µm and 170–800 × 6–12 µm; and acanthostyles (70–165 × 6–9 µm). Eurypon diversicolor sp. nov. has acanthostyles in two categories ( Table 10). The acanthostyles I are longer in E. diversicolor sp. nov. than in E. nigrum . Eurypon duoacanthostyla ( Hoshino, 1981) is an orange encrusting sponge described from Mitsusuke ( Japan) at 15 m depth. It has straight styles (250–320 × 5–8 µm) and acanthostyles in two categories: 250–280 × 7–9 µm and 138–180 × 6–8 µm. Eurypon diversicolor sp. nov. has longer and thicker styles than E. duoacanthostyla . The other species belonging to the genus Eurypon from the Pacific Ocean have spicules of different length than E. diversicolor sp. nov. ( Table 12).

Etymology

Named diversicolor which means different colours in Latin.

Figures

Figure 14. Photographs of preserved sponges from this study. (A) Eurypon patriciae sp. nov. (B) Eurypon tylospinosum sp. nov. (C) Eurypon diversicolor sp. nov. (D) Eurypon brunus sp. nov. Scale bars: 1 cm (A, B, D), 2 cm (C).

Figure 19. Eurypon diversicolor sp. nov. Scanning electron microscopy images of spicules. (A) Choanosomal tylostyle head; (B) choanosomal tylostyle end; (C) acanthostyle I; (D) acanthostyle II. Scale bars: 10 µm (A, B), 50 µm (C, D).

Figure 20. Drawings of Eurypon diversicolor sp. nov. (A) Choanosomal tylostyle/style; (B) acanthostyles recurved by short spines (two categories); (C) choanosomal skeleton (hymedesmoid). Scale bars: 30 µm (A–C), 80 µm (D).