Eurete schmidti schmidti Schulze, 1886

Tabachnick, Konstantin R. & Menschenina, Dorte Janussen And Larisa L., 2008, New Australian Hexactinellida (Porifera) with a revision of Euplectella aspergillum *, Zootaxa 1866 (1), pp. 7-68 : 39-40

Eurete schmidti schmidti Schulze, 1886 ( Fig. 17 ; Tab. 16)

Material. RV Soela , sta. SO 1/84/055, NNW of Lacepede Archipelago, 15 o 57.20’–59’ S 120 o 46.20’ –44.60’E, 296–298 m.

Description. Body: A plexiform sponge 100x60x 40 mm composed of tubes 5–6 mm in diameter with walls 0.8–1 mm thick.

Spicules: The dictyonal skeleton shows a shape and dimensions agreeing with the description of E. schmidti schmidti by Ijima (1927). Dermalia and atrialia are pentactins (rarely hexactins) with rough rays about 0.004 mm in diameter with rounded or clavate outer ends. The scopules have clavate, rarely spindlelike, rough 2–3 (rarely 1 or 4) tines, the end directed inside the body is rough and rounded. Uncinates are several mm long and about 0.015 mm in diameter.

Microscleres: The microscleres are oxyhexasters with 2, sometimes 3 secondary rays and hemioxyhexasters.

Remarks. The sponge is attributed to E. schmidti schmidti (known off the Philippines and off Japan) based on the loose spicule form and measurements. The scopules in E. schmidti schmidti are 0.25–0.385 and up to 0.6 mm long, their 2–4 tines are 0.031 –0.042 mm long ( Ijima 1927). Two other subspecies, E. schmidti treubi and E. schmidti kampeni , both described by Ijima (1927) off the Indonesian Archipelago, have short scopules

with different tines. It is impossible to make the comparison of the external body shape which is also important for the subspecies identification ( Ijima 1927), because it is not clear whether the Australian specimen is complete or a broken fragment (the latter case is most common among such rigid, but fragile, sponges).

Pararete Ijima, 1927

Figures

FIGURE 17. Eurete schmidti Schulze, 1886, spicules, WAM Z 265. A­C, scopules.