Haliclona (Haliclona) epiphytica Zea & De Weerdt, 1999

Van, Rob W. M., 2017, Sponges of the Guyana Shelf, Zootaxa 1, pp. 1-225 : 29

Haliclona (Haliclona) epiphytica Zea & De Weerdt, 1999

Figures 17 a–d

Haliclona (Haliclona) epiphytica Zea & De Weerdt, 1999: 172 , figs 1–2; De Weerdt 2000: 15, figs 3V, 4A–D.

Material examined. RMNH Por. 9770, Guyana, ‘Luymes’ Guyana Shelf Expedition, station 95, 6.9°N 57.5°W, depth 23–24 m, mixed hard bottom, 3 September 1970 .

Description. A mass of creeping encrusting branches ( Fig. 17 a) consisting of a series of connected lobes, each provided with an oscule. Size of the mass of branches about 6 x 4 cm, thickness of individual branches 3–5 mm, lobes up to 8 mm high, oscules 2–3 mm in diameter. At several places there are creeping tendrils. Surface optically smooth. Color (in alcohol) pale beige. Consistency soft.

Skeleton. The ectosomal reticulation ( Fig. 17 b) is triangular to polygonal. At the nodes there are often protruding spicules. The choanosomal skeleton ( Fig. 17 c) is uni- to paucispicular, with occasional thicker (4–5 spicules) meandering spicule tracts.

Spicules. Oxeas only.

Oxeas ( Fig. 17 d), curved, short and fat, with sharp points, 76– 83 – 91 x 3.5– 4.9 –6 µm.

Distribution and ecology. Guyana Shelf, Colombian Caribbean, shallow-water down to 24 m (holotype 1 m).

Remarks. The Guyana specimen is not growing on seaweeds like the type, but in most other aspects the similarity is convincingly large. No other species in De Weerdt’s (2000) monograph of the Caribbean Chalinidae shows the same match.

Figures

FIGURE 17. Haliclona (Haliclona) epiphytica Zea & De Weerdt, 1999, a, habitus of RMNH Por. 9970 (scale bar = 1 cm), b – c, light microsocpic images of skeleton, b, surface skeleton, c, cross section, d, SEM images of oxeas.