Clathria (Thalysias) venosa ( Alcolado, 1984 )

Ugalde, Diana, Fernandez, Julio C. C., Gómez, Patricia, Lôbo-Hajdu, Gisele & Simões, Nuno, 2021, An update on the diversity of marine sponges in the southern Gulf of Mexico coral reefs, Zootaxa 5031 (1), pp. 1-112 : 49

Clathria (Thalysias) venosa ( Alcolado, 1984)

Tables 6, 7; Figs. 43A–H , 45J

Synonymy and references: Microciona venosa Alcolado (1984: 6) , Hooper (1996: 411), and Gómez (2014: 70); Clathria venosa, Hajdu et al. (2011: 136) , Pérez et al. (2017: 11); Clathria (Thalysias) venosa: Hooper (1996: 411) , Rützler et al. (2014: 62), and Gómez (2014: 70).

Type locality. Caribbean , Cuba .

Material examined. CNPGG-2404, Hornos reef (19.19083°N, 96.11777°W), 3 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 27 August 2018 ; CNPGG-2410, Isla Verde reef (19.19844°N, 96.06863°W), 3.5 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 28 August 2018 ; CNPGG-2445, Isla Verde reef (19.20588°N, 96.07305°W), 7.8 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 31 August 2018 .

Distribution. Mexico ( Gómez 2014; current records), Cuba ( Alcolado 1984), other countries in the Caribbean Sea, Brazil (Zea et al. 2014).

Remarks. Clathria (T.) venosa is distinguished by its encrusting habit, with a stellate venous pattern at surface flowing to oscules; its color is pink, greyish, and whitish to cinnamon. C. (T.) venosa has been recorded and described for the southern ( Gómez 2014) and the northern GoM (Zea et al. 2014). The species abundance has been shown to be positively correlated with urban organic pollution on coral reefs, exhibiting a significant exponential relation with the pollution degree ( Busutil & Alcolado 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 43. Clathria (Thalysias) venosa (Alcolado, 1984) (CNPGG-2410), skeleton and spicules: A. transversal section of skeleton; B. choanosomal principal subtylostyle; C. choanosomal auxiliary subtylostyles; D. ectosomal auxiliary subtylostyles and choanosomal acanthostyle, the arrow pointing to chelae; E–F. choanosomal acanthostyles; G. toxas (one side broken); H. palmate isochelae. Scale bars. A = 200 µm; B–D = 50 µm; E = 100 µm; D = 50 µm; E–G= 10 µm; H = 5 µm.

FIGURE 45. In situ photographs of species analyzed in the present study: A. Neopetrosia proxima Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 (CNPGG-2264); B. Neopetrosia proxima Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 (CNPGG-2376); C. Neopetrosia subtriangularis (Duchassaing, 1850) (CNPGG-2435); D. Petrosia (Petrosia) weinbergi van Soest, 1980 (CNPGG-2434). E. Xestospongia muta (Schmidt, 1870) (CNPGG-2230); F. Siphonodictyon xamaycaense Pulitzer-Finali, 1986 (CNPGG-2441), arrows pointing to fistules; G. Siphonodictyon xamaycaense Pulitzer-Finali, 1986 (CNPGG-2432); H. Clathria (Clathria) foliacea Topsent, 1889 (CNPGG-2172), its stem is covered by algae; I. Clathria (Clathria) gomezae van Soest, 2017 (CNPGG-2231); J. Clathria (Thalysias) venosa (Alcolado, 1984) (CNPGG-2410); K. Clathria (Thalysias) virgultosa (Esper, 1806) (CNPGG-2357). Scale bars, A–K = 1 cm.