Sarcotragus pipetta (Schmidt, 1868)

Manconi, Renata, Cadeddu, Barbara, Ledda, Fabio & Pronzato, Roberto, 2013, An overview of the Mediterranean cave-dwelling horny sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae), ZooKeys 281, pp. 1-68 : 28-30

Sarcotragus pipetta (Schmidt, 1868) Fig. 22

Hircinia pipetta Schmidt, 1868: 5.

Description.

Growth form massive (10 × 10 cm to 5 × 5 cm) and irregular in the basal portion with 5 to 10 peculiar, unequal, hollow, conical processes (1 to 3 cm high and 1 to 2 cm wide at their base) bearing an apical, circular oscule 1 to 3 mm in diameter. Consistency firm and elastic, difficult to tear. Colour in formalin from light brown to dark violet-brown to rarely greyish azure in vivo (Mitigliano cave). Dermal membrane with fine particles of sand. Conules ca. 0.5 mm in height, rather irregularly distributed (1 to 3 mm apart). Skeleton reticulate with meshes 2-3 mm in diameter. Primary fibres with fasciculate architecture, with a central fibre (50 to 150 µm thick) cored by small inclusions (mainly sand) irregularly surrounded by a trellis of thinner fibres (20 to 40 µm thick), free of inclusions. These complex fibres assume here and there the shape of a perforated plate (400-700 µm in diameter). Secondary fibres simple, moderately cored by foreign matter, generally narrow at their centre and anastomosing to the main fibres by root-like processes. Filaments up to 6.5 µm in thickness.

Habitat.

Cave, rocky bottom, coralligenous community. Bathymetric range 8-120 m.

Mediterranean caves.

Mitigliano Cave (Central Tyrrhenian Sea) ( Pansini and Pronzato 1982; Balduzzi et al. 1989; Pronzato and Manconi 2011).