Scopalina jali Turner, 2021

Turner, Thomas L. & Lonhart, Steve I., 2023, The Sponges of the Carmel Pinnacles Marine Protected Area, Zootaxa 5318 (2), pp. 151-194 : 184

Scopalina jali Turner, 2021

Figures 1B & 21

Material examined. IZC00048470 and SBMNH 700918, Inner Carmel Pinnacle (36.55910, -121.96630), 10–18 m, 8/10/2021.

Morphology. Thickly encrusting, 1–2 cm thick, up to 20 cm across. Soft and compressible. Prominent oscules slightly elevated above surface, ectosome partially transparent and lacy. Terracotta (reddish-brown) to beige alive, beige in ethanol.

Skeleton. Not investigated. Previously reported as a chaotic mesh of spongin fibers cored with spicules.

Spicules. Oxeas, rarely modified to anisoxeas or with an extra cross-piece forming an X shape at one end. 361–423–485 x 7–15–18 μm (n=22).

Distribution and habitat. Occurs on natural reefs in the shallow subtidal. Previously known only from Southern California, from Santa Barbara in the north to Catalina Island in the south. This species was common at both dives at the Carmel Pinnacles, extending its range into Central California. It has not been seen at any of the 13 other shallow subtidal sites recently investigated around the Monterey Peninsula.

Remarks. The spicules of the sample investigated are 15% longer and 40% thicker than the Southern California samples measured in previous work ( Turner 2021). As no genetic differentiation was seen at the 28S locus, this is likely due to differences in environmental conditions.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Assorted sponges from the Carmel Pinnacles. Acarnus erithacus (A), Scopalina jali (B), Acanthancora cyanocrypta (visible as a blue crust) (C), Cliona californiana (a boring species, visible as tiny yellow papillae) (D), Neopetrosia problematica (E), Endectyon hyle (F), Amphimedon trindenea (G), Tethya californiana (H), Leucilla nuttingi (I), Leucosolenia sp. (J). B, D, F, I are discussed in the systematics section below; other species were not collected, and are identified with field photos only.

FIGURE 21. Maximum likelihood phylogenies for the Scopalinida. A: 28S locus, B: cox1 locus. Genbank accession numbers are shown; bold indicates new sequences. Node confidence is based on bootstrapping. Scale bar indicates substitutions per site.