Callyspongia

Shafique, S, Burhan, Z, Jabeen, H, Rasheed, M, Ali, A & Siddiqui, P J A, 2023, Re-description of two marine sponge species (Demospongiae: Haplosclerida) from the coast of Karachi, Pakistan, Northern Arabian Sea, Indian Journal of Geo Marine Sciences 52 (7), pp. 347-353 : 350-351

Genus: Callyspongia 8

Subgenus: Callyspongia (Cladochalina) 12 Callyspongia (Cladochalina) fibrosa 39 ( Fig. 3 )

Synonymy

Pachychalina fibrosa Ridley & Dendy, 1887 , 21- 22, Pl IV, Figure 3 and 4, Dasychalina fibrosa 39, 330.

Material examined

CEMB-POR-02; 9 February 2013; Churna Island , Karachi; 7 – 10 m.

Material description

Erect, irregular, branched; stout branches, coarsely fibrous, aculeated, elastic, brittle, hard and compressible. Each branch bears on one side large circular shallow oscules. Length of tubular branch ranges 20 – 50 mm from base to osculum and the width ranged between 35 mm and 110 mm in diameter. Canal length from inside the tubular branch is about 35 mm, narrower towards the base.

Colour

Pale yellow in life and yellowish white in alcohol ( Fig. 3a ).

Ectosomal skeleton

Thin, spiny, distinct and translucent. Spines length ranges from 3 – 5 mm.

Choanosomal skeleton

Irregular coarse reticulation of stout spiculo-fibres ( Fig. 3b and c ).

Spicules

Densely packed in spongin fibres in the form of reticulate bundles about the thickness of 0.1 mm. They are small, smooth, and slender with blunt ends (length ranging from 66 – 84 µm and width from 2 – 3 µm) ( Fig. 3d ).

Ecology Shallow coastal rocky shelf of about 7 m depth.

Distribution

Indo-Pacific, Eastern Philippines, Southern Vietnam, Australia and Pakistan (present study).

Remarks

The specimen is certainly comparable with the Pachychalina fibrosa 41 and Dasychalina fibrosa 39 with some exemptions, as the branches are larger than the original specimen. The colour of the specimen after preservation was whitish yellow. Spicules have blunt ends of similar size 39.

Figures

Fig. 3 — (a) Specimen of Callyspongia (Cladochalina) fibrosa (Ridley and Dendy, 1886), (b) Light microscopic image of tangential skeleton shows tufted spongin network (scale = 20 µm), (c) Light microscopic image of microtome-section showing spiculo-fibres, and (d) Scanning electron microscopic image of siliceous spicules (scale = 5 µm)