Cinachyrella kuekenthali ( Uliczka, 1929 )

Cárdenas, Paco, Menegola, Carla, Rapp, Hans Tore & Díaz, Maria Cristina, 2009, Morphological description and DNA barcodes of shallow-water Tetractinellida (Porifera: Demospongiae) from Bocas del Toro, Panama, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 2276, pp. 1-39 : 9-11

Cinachyrella kuekenthali ( Uliczka, 1929)

( Figure 4 )

Synonyms ( Rützler & Smith 1992).

Cinachyra kuekenthali Uliczka, 1929: 43 , figs. 16–21, pl. I, fig. 4. Cinachyra schistospiculosa Uliczka, 1929: 45 , figs. 27–30, pl. I, fig. 6. Cinachyrella kuekenthali ( Uliczka, 1929) : Rützler 1987: 200, figs. 2f, 5c.

Neotype. USNM 31491, off St. John, Virgin Islands, 16 m depth (not seen).

Material. 3 specimens collected at Caracol Reef and Adriana’s reef, 3–15 m depth. Two specimens deposited: ZMBN 81786–81787, both from Adriana’s reef, 3 m depth.

Outer morphology ( Fig. 4 A). Massive, subglobular, it can reach 15 cm of diameter. Strongly hispid. Often covered with sand, green and red algae or more rarely macro-epibionts (ascidians, sponges). It can therefore appear grayish or reddish in the field, while its true surface color is orange. Choanosome is orange when alive, yellowish in ethanol. Few oscules (ca 1 cm), sometimes only one. Porocalices (0.3– 0.5 cm) are numerous, unevenly distributed but usually not on the top. Oscules and porocalices can contract.

Skeleton ( Fig. 4 B). The skeleton organization is fairly similar to that of C. apion . Radial bundles of oxeas cross the choanosome until and beyond the surface. The ectosome layer is somewhat larger (1.2–1.5 mm). The cladomes of anatriaenes are still placed in this layer or protruding beyond the surface. Protriaenes are less abundant than anatriaenes and mainly placed at the surface. Numerous spiny microxeas are randomly positioned in the choanosome, and in lower densities in the ectosome. Sigmaspires are present throughout the choanosome. Foreign spicules and diatoms are rare in the sponge. No crystalline structures were observed.

Spicules (measurements of ZMBN 81786) ( Fig. 4 C–D). Megascleres: (a) oxeas, large, length: 2088– 2853.4 -3840 µm (N=15); width: 15– 39.6 –58 µm. (b) microxeas ( Fig. 4 C), spiny, straight or slightly bent, length: 141– 184.3 –215.5 µm; width: 2.7– 5.1 –5.3 µm. (c) protriaenes, with rare prodiaenes, width of rhabdome tends to increase from cladome base, rhabdome length: 2200–3500 µm (N=2); rhabdome width: 4– 8.5 –11 µm; clad length: 73– 122.4 –177 µm. (d) anatriaenes, very common, rhabdome length: 1600– 2735 – 3600 µm (N=6); rhabdome width: 3– 5.7 –11.4 µm; clad length: 30– 67.9 –107 µm. Microscleres: (e) sigmaspires ( Fig. 4 D), spiny, with occasional central or terminal bulge, length: 11.1– 13.8 –16.5 µm (N=22); width: 1– 1.2 –1.6 µm (N=22).

Habitat in the Bocas del Toro region. Common on reef and coral rubble, 3–18 m depth.

Distribution. North Carolina and Florida, U.S.A. ( Rützler & Smith 1992); Bahamas ( Wiedenmayer 1977; van Soest & Sass 1981); Cuba ( Alcolado 2002); Virgin Islands ( Uliczka 1929; Rützler & Smith 1992); Jamaica ( Rützler & Smith 1992; Lehnert & van Soest 1998); Barbados ( Uliczka 1929; van Soest & Stentoft 1988); Curaçao (van Soest 1981); Belize ( Rützler & Smith 1992); Panama (this study); Colombia ( Rützler & Smith 1992; Valderrama 2001; Díaz 2007); Brazil ( Rützler & Smith 1992).

Remarks and discussion. This is the first record of C. kuekenthali in Panama although it had already been studied at Bocas del Toro, as Cinachyrella sp. ( Erwin & Thacker 2007). Most descriptions state that C. kuekenthali is characterized by a depression on top ( Wiedenmayer 1977; Rützler & Smith 1992; Díaz 2007). We did not observe this, as in some Colombian specimens ( Valderrama 2001). This character difference is not considered of great importance since variability of shape with respect to different environment conditions is well documented in the Tetillidae ( McDonald et al. 2002; Meroz-Fine et al. 2005). We found it very difficult to distinguish the two categories of oxeas previously observed in C. kuekenthali (van Soest & Stentoft 1988; Rützler & Smith 1992) and therefore considered only one size in our measurements. The microxeas were always very numerous, so their absence in a record from Venezuela ( Amaro & Liñero-Arana 2002) makes this identification doubtful.

There was a 42 bp. difference between the COI Folmer fragment of C. apion and C. kuekenthali from Bocas. Contrary to C. apion , there was high intra-specific genetic polymorphism of COI for C. kuekenthali in the Caribbean. Four COI sequences are now known from Florida, Belize and Panama; they group in 3 haplotypes ( Table 2). C. kuekenthali from Bocas del Toro had the most diverging sequence with four to five base pair differences with specimens from Florida and Belize. Therefore, the Folmer partition of COI would possibly be a suitable mitochondrial marker for future population studies of C. kuekenthali .

Genbank accession number Locality 51 144 237 264 573 EU237479 Tennessee Reef, FL, USA C G T T C EF519603 * Delta Reef, Keys, FL, USA? G G T C EF519602 * Patch Reef, Belize? G T T C FJ711646 * Bocas del Toro, Panama T A T C Y

* in Sponge Barcoding Database: www.spongebarcoding.org? = missing data; Y = T/C.

C. alloclada , C. apion and C. kuekenthali are sympatric species in Bocas del Toro. Often covered by sediments and algae, they can be challenging to differentiate in the field without careful spicule observation. C. apion is usually small (ca 4 cm in diameter) and found near mangrove areas, in very shallow waters (0–1 m). C. kuekenthali is fairly large (ca 10–20 cm in diameter) and found deeper in the reefs (2–18 m). C. alloclada is ca 8–10 cm in diameter and also found in reefs (> 5 m).

SEM observations showed that all three species of Cinachyrella have similar spiny sigmaspire morphologies. The main difference concerned the size of these miscroscleres: the sigmaspires of C. kuekenthali were, on average, longer than in C. apion and C. alloclada .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Cinachyrella kuekenthali (Uliczka, 1929) [ZMBN 81787]: A. Gross morphology. Scale: 5 cm; C. kuekenthali [ZMBN 81786]: B. Cross – section showing the skeletal architecture. Scale: 1 mm; C. Microxeas. Scale: 20 µm; D. Sigmaspire. Scale: 2 µm.