Callyspongia Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864

Bertolino, Marco, Costa, Gabriele, Reboa, Anna, Bavestrello, Giorgio, Pansini, Maurizio, Betti, Federico, Bo, Marzia & Daneri, Giovanni, 2019, The sponge fauna of the Seno Magdalena and Puyuhuapi Fjord (Chile), with a description of two new species, Zootaxa 4623 (2), pp. 306-320 : 313

Genus Callyspongia Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864

Callyspongia fusifera ( Thiele, 1905)

( Fig. 3 )

Studied material. CILE 92 ( MSNG 60891 ), Bouy W (I) (44.566666°S 72.716666°W), Puerto Cisnes (Chile), 30 m depth, on a rocky slope, 2014

Description. The sponge has three tubes starting from a small common base (2 cm thick and 1.5 cm across) ( Fig. 3A ). Two of them are erect, and the third one is bent almost at a right angle. The highest tube is about 6 cm high. The mean diameter is about 1 cm but all the tubes show alternate swellings and narrowings. The surface is smooth and the consistence soft. The colour in life is beige with mauve tinges. Oscules are round, slightly raised, opening on top of the tubes, but also on their side ( Fig. 3A ).

Skeleton. The ectosome is formed by a network of thin, generally unispiculate fibres forming quadrangular meshes. Erect spicule brushes, supported by the apical part of the choanosomal primary fibres, make the sponge surface hispid ( Fig. 3B ). The choanosome is a rather regular network of plurispicular spongin fibers forming quadrangular meshes ( Fig. 3C ). The fibres measure 2 (6.9) 12 μm in diameter, and the meshes 200 (522.7) 800 μm. Most toxas are embedded in the primary fibres, but sparse microscleres are also present.

Spicules. Megascleres: Short and thick oxeas, generally straight or sometimes slightly curved, with pointed or mucronate ends ( Fig. 3D ),e 52.5 (66.6) 75 x 5 (6.4) 7.5 µm. Microscleres: One category of toxas showing different degrees of folding: from gently curved to deeply bent ( Fig. 3E ), 40 (46.4) 62.5 x 2 (2.9) 5 µm.

Ecology. Thirty meters depth in an area characterized by detritus slopes and rocky walls.

Remarks. The specimen has been attributed to Callyspongia fusifera , notwithstanding the presence of toxa microscleres, because a study in progress at the Museu Nacional of Rio de Janeiro on several specimens from Chile, and on Thiele’s holotype has revealed the presence of toxas (Bispo, personal communication). The shape of the oxeas with pointed extremities matches the description of Burton (1940), but differs from that of Desqueyroux- Faúndez (1990) for Easter Island who recorded strongyloid oxeas.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Callyspongia fusifera: (A) the holotype in life; (B) Ectosome; (C) Choanosome; (D) Oxeas; (E) Toxas.