Scopalina jali, Turner, 2021

Turner, Thomas L., 2021, Four new Scopalina from Southern California: the first Scopalinida (Porifera Demospongiae) from the temperate Eastern Pacific, Zootaxa 4970 (2), pp. 353-371 : 366-368

Scopalina jali sp. nov.

( Fig. 6 )

Material examined. Holotype: ( CASIZ 235466 ) Big Rock , Santa Cruz Island, California, USA (34.05220, - 119.57360), 12m depth, 1/19/20 . Paratypes: ( CASIZ 235467 ) Naples Reef , Santa Barbara, California, USA (34.42212, -119.95154), 11 m depth , 9/26/19. ( CASIZ 235468 ) Naples Reef , Santa Barbara, California, USA (34.42212, -119.95154), 15 m depth , 12/10/19.

Etymology. The ectosome of live specimens in situ is reminiscent of a jali: a latticed screen common in Indo- Islamic architecture.

Morphology. Thickly encrusting, 1.0– 1.5 cm thick, up to 35 cm across ( Fig. 6 ). Soft, spongey, and very compressible. Ectosome transparent, without spicules; a lattice-like mesh of spongin fibers visible in life; conules present, but very small (100–300 μm in width and height); ectosome more opaque after preservation in ethanol but remains partially transparent and lacy. Color in freshly collected specimens is terra-cotta (reddish-brown); red and orange tones are more muted in field photos, with color appearing to vary from tan to terra-cotta; samples fade to beige when preserved in ethanol. Oscules 10–20 mm in diameter; occur singly; sparse in some samples and denser in others; partially closed by ectosomal membrane in collected samples.

Skeleton. Abundant spongin fibers cored with spicules form a chaotic mesh lattice within choanosome. Larger spongin tracts, 45–65 μm wide, are cored with bundles approximately 5 spicules wide; smaller tracts, 8–20 μm wide, are cored with single spicules. No spicules detected outside of spongin tracts. Considerable silt apparent in tissue sections, but none seen coring spongin tracts.

Spicules. Oxeas only, gently curved; some spicule tips show “telescoping” (width decreasing in a step-wise fashion). Average spicule length for each voucher: 354, 358, 366 μm (N=30–37 per sample); total range in spicule length across vouchers 219–436 μm (N=100). Average spicule width at widest point, for each voucher: 8, 9, 11 μm (N=30–37 per sample); total range in spicule width at head 2–18 μm (N=100).

Distribution and habitat. In the winter of 2019–2020, this sponge was abundant on the shallow (5–17 m) rocky reefs off of Naples Point and the Elwood Bluffs, Santa Barbara, California. The species was not seen in 4 dives at these same locations in the Spring and Summer of 2019, suggesting that the population may vary seasonally or in a boom-and-bust fashion on longer timescales. Consistent with this latter possibility, many large individuals of this species were seen at the Big Rock dive site at Santa Cruz Island in January of 2020, while no individuals were seen in three dives at the same location in November of 2018. The only other probable sighting I am aware of is a photo uploaded to the site iNaturalist (inaturalist.org/observations/41000570). This photo is very likely to be S. jali , as no other sponge with this morphology is known in Southern California. The photo is annotated as from Heisler Park, Laguna Beach, from 3/4/2007.

Remarks. Genetic data at two loci confirm that this species is within the Scopalina . Abundant spongin fibers cored with simple spicules, telescoping spicule tips, and lack of ectosomal skeleton are all consistent with this placement. The presence of oxeas, rather than styles, required modification of recent definitions of order, family, and genus -- though one species currently placed in Scopalina in the World Porifera database also contains only oxeas ( S. agoga ( de Laubenfels, 1954)) and another contains both styles and oxeas ( S. australiensis ( Pulitzer-Finali, 1982)) . Scopalina jali is differentiated from S. agoga by spicule size and the presence of many tangential spicules in the ectosome of S. agoga ; this previously described species is also known only from Palau ( de Laubenfels 1954). The skeletal architecture of S. jali differs markedly from the other California species described herein due to its highly reticulated nature, but this is similar to the published description of the Atlantic species S. ceutensis ( Blanquer & Uriz, 2008) .

It is likely that this sponge can be identified from field photos alone within Southern California, as I have seen no other sponge with a similar morphology to date.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Scopalina jali sp. nov.. A: Field photo of holotype (CASIZ 235466), Santa Cruz Island. B: Field photo of paratype (CASIZ 235467), Naples Reef. C: Skeletal architecture of holotype. In C, vermiform and primary spongin trunks coated in apparent algae. D, E: spicules from paratype (CASIZ 235467).