Haliclona (Gellius) marismedi (Pulitzer-Finali, 1978)

Bertolino, Marco, Cerrano, Carlo, Bavestrello, Giorgio, Carella, Mirco, Pansini, Maurizio & Calcinai, Barbara, 2013, Diversity of Porifera in the Mediterranean coralligenous accretions, with description of a new species, ZooKeys 336, pp. 1-37 : 15

Haliclona (Gellius) marismedi (Pulitzer-Finali, 1978) Figs 14 A–F

Gellius marismedi , Pulitzer-Finali, 1978: 81.

Material examined.

Specimen PM-BL1-sp7-sciaf.; specimen PM-BL1-sp8-sciaf.; specimen PM-BL2b-sp6-sciaf.; specimen PM-BL2b-sp6a-sciaf.; Punta Manara (station 6) 44°15'05.61"N, 9°24'09.33"E, depth 35 m, collected 13-07-2009; specimen IG-S-BL1-sp2-sciaf.; Gallinara Island (station 3, Sciusciaù) 44°01'34"N, 8°13'45"E, depth 30 m, collected on17-06-2009.

Description. Small (1-1.5 cm2) encrusting and insinuating sponge, beige or brown, detected on the surface and inside a coralligenous block. Surface smooth, consistency soft (Fig. 14A).

Skeleton. The choanosome consists of multispicular primary lines connected by unispicular secondary tracts, creating a confused reticulation.

Spicules. Oxeas gently curved with hastate extremities detectable only in the larger spicules (Fig. 14B), 220 (245) 275 × 2.5 (4.5) 6.25 μm; toxas with more or less angulate central curvature and slightly reflexed points in two size categories: I) 27.5 (45.5) 57.5 μm (Fig. 14C) and II) 10 (11.5) 12.5 μm (Fig. 14D); two types of thin sigmas, “C” shaped, I) 22.5 (23.7) 25 μm and II) 10 (13.6) 17.5 μm (Figs 14E, F).

Distribution and discussion. Pulitzer-Finali (1978) described the species from a specimen epibiothic on Hyrtios collectrix (Schulze, 1880) found on dead, sanded Posidonia beds, at 50 m depth in the Bay of Naples. The same author considered conspecific with Gellius marismedi the specimen from Banyuls-sur-Mer (rocky walls in shaded areas at 2-17 m depth and horizontal substrates at 20-40 m depth) attributed to Gelliodes luridus (Lundbeck, 1902) by Boury-Esnault (1971).

This is a new finding for the Ligurian Sea and the coralligenous community and the third record after the original description.