Rosea, Barrois, 1876

Manconi, Renata, Cadeddu, Barbara, Ledda, Fabio & Pronzato, Roberto, 2013, An overview of the Mediterranean cave-dwelling horny sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae), ZooKeys 281, pp. 1-68 : 9-10

Aplysilla rosea (Barrois, 1876) Fig. 3

Verongia rosea Barrois, 1876: 57.

Description.

Growth form encrusting, thin (3-6 mm), in irregular patches of up to 20 cm in diameter. Surface evidently conulose (1-3 mm) because of the dense dendritic “forest” of "small horny trees" forming the typical skeleton of all Aplysilla species. Oscules (1-3 mm) scattered and not evident; inhalant apertures rarely visible in vivo. Colour from rose to yellow. Skeleton of large ramified fibres arising from a spongin basal plate strictly adhering to the substratum. Dendritic fibres with maximum size of ca. 5 mm in length, ca. 300 µm in diameter at the basal portion, and no more than 50 µm in diameter at terminal branches (up to 4-6 sometimes anastomosing). Spongin layered, transparent, pale in colour, not cored with mineral debris.

Habitat.

Cave, rocky/detritic/muddy bottom, hyperhaline canal (Manfredonia), artificial reef, coralligenous community, and epibiotic on red coral and on Pinna nobilis (L., 1758). Bathymetric range 1-110 m.

Mediterranean Caves.

Blava, Calamars, La Catedral, J1 caves (Balearic Sea); Galatea Cave* (Sardinian Sea); Béar, Troc, Endoume, Figuier, Trèmies, Niolon caves (Gulf of Lions); Western-Zoagli Cave (Ligurian Sea); Mago, Gaiola, Secca delle Formiche-Vivara, Mitigliano caves (Central Tyrrhenian Sea); Azzurra Cave (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea); Taccio Vecchio 1 Cave-Lampedusa*, Zembra caves (Sicily Channel); La Regina Cave (Southern Adriatic Sea); Trypia Spilia, Ftelio, Madhes, Andros caves (Aegean Sea) ( Vacelet 1959; Sarà 1961a 1964a; Labate 1965; Boury-Esnault 1971; Pouliquen 1972; Pulitzer-Finali and Pronzato 1976, 1980; Pansini et al. 1977; Pulitzer-Finali 1977; Pansini and Pronzato 1982; Balduzzi et al. 1989; Bibiloni et al. 1989; Benedetti-Cecchi et al. 1998; Ben Mustapha et al. 2003; Pronzato and Manconi 2011; Cadeddu 2012; Gerovasileiou and Voultsiadou 2012).