Cyamon pedroalcoladoi, Ozga & Menegola, 2023

Ozga, Aline Vasum & Menegola, Carla, 2023, Hidden treasures of Camamu Bay, Bahia, Brazil: New records and two new species of Raspailiidae (Porifera, Demospongiae), Zootaxa 5375 (4), pp. 515-532 : 521-524

Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov.

( Figs. 3 and 4 , Table 2 )

Material examined. Holotype. MZUSP 478 (Schizoholotypes MUCIN 0149). Brazil. Bahia State, Maraú, Camamu Bay , Coroa das Ilhas, 13°57’33”S 38°59’51”W, 23.x.2012, 2–3 m, Coll. C. Menegola, Det. A. Ozga & C. Menegola.

Diagnosis. Sponge with has five kinds of styles, two kinds of strongyles with regular rays and arranged spines, and two kinds of polyactines with irregular rays, completely smooth, with mucronate tips.

Description. Massive, irregular sponge with dimensions (19 x 12 mm (length x width)). Conulose surface, conules with spicule projections of long styles, visible to the naked eye. The spaces between the conules form sinuous grooves with oscules of approximately 0.22 mm to 1.85 mm are evenly distributed on the sponge surface. Pores not visible. Firm, compressible and elastic. Orange color in situ ( Fig. 3A ). Upon preservation, turns dark brown externally, beige internally ( Fig. 3B ).

Skeleton. Ectosome measures about 10 µm, of columnar structures comprising long and short plumose styles tufts, and strongyles that protrude from the surface. Polyactines I and II are also present. Choanosome is composed of plumose multispicular columnar bundles emerging from a basal grouping of polyactines I and II. Columns are echinated by short and long styles and strongyles perpendicular to the surface and wrapped in spongin fibers. Exhalant channels are surrounded by dense patches of polyactines and short styles ( Fig. 3C–D ).

Spicules. Two kinds of strongyles, five kinds of styles and two kinds of polyactines ( Fig. 4A–P ; Table 2 ).

Strongyles I ( Fig. 4A and B )—Long, thin and straight. Delicate spicules that break easily: 1175–1860–2325/ 10–15.2–22.5 µm. Strongyles II ( Fig. 4C )—Short and thick with rounded ends: 250–390.3–510/ 12.5–17.9–25 µm. Styles I ( Fig. 4D )—Long and thin with pointed hastate apical ends. The spicule looks like subtylostyles: 1775–2161.7–2500/ 7.5–14.3–20 µm. Styles II ( Fig. 4E )—Long, thin and with pointed hastate apical ends. Some spicules have a discrete tyle: 875–1158.3–1525/ 2.5–6.4–12.5 µm. Styles III ( Fig. 4F )—Short and thick, straight or curved, rounded tips with pointed acerate apical ends: 300–465–600/ 10–17–25 µm. Styles IV ( Fig. 4G )—Short and thin, straight or slightly curved, with round, blunt, mucronate apices: 250–335–500/ 5–6.4–10 µm. Styles V ( Fig. 4H )—Short, thin and sinuous, with pointed conical apical end: 220–385.7–520/ 2.5–4.5–7.5 µm. Polyactines I ( Fig. 4I–N )—Three to five cladi of regular length, with pointed or blunt, spined tips. Growing (young) spicules are smooth. The spines may be straight or facing the center of the spicule. Basal cladi with pointed ends (42.5–58.9–80/ 5–9.5–15 µm) and lateral cladi with rounded ends (42.5–56.1–70/ 7.5–8.9–12.5 µm). Polyactines II ( Fig. 4O and P )—Four or five-claded with single basal elongate clade all tapering towards the apex. Center with irregularly dispersed rounded projections, which may also be found along the rays. Elongate basal clade (36–51.2–65/ 2–3.7–8 µm) and short lateral cladi (10–22.7–37/ 1–2.4–4 µm).

Ecology and bathymetry. Sandy bottom with biodetritus (shell and carapace fragments and calcareous nodules) at 2–3 m depth.

Distribution. Southwestern Atlantic Ocean, Brazil. Only known from the type locality.

Etymology. The specific epithet is in homage to Dr. Pedro Alcolado ( Cuba), beloved friend and scientific mentor of C. Menegola, who left us prematurely in 2017 and whose dynamism and passion for sponges and coral reefs are reflected in his vast, more than four decades, contributions to coral and sponge taxonomy, ecology and biology, with hundreds of publications and mentoring dozens of graduate students.

Remarks. Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. is closely related to C. agnani ( Fig. 5 ; Table 2 ) described for northeastern Brazil and reported from the Caribbean ( Colombia) by Van Soest et al. (2012). The new species differs from C. agnani by having two kinds of strongyles, and two additional kinds of styles. The details of megascleres here highlighted have not been documented in the general literature and in the review of Cyamon by Van Soest et al. (2012). Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. possesses style V sinuous, not observed in C. agnani from Brazil.

Regarding C. agnani, Van Soest et al. (2012) pointed out the notable variation between the holotype described by Boury-Esnault (1973) for Brazil (Espirito Santo state), deposited at the Natural History Museum in Paris, and the specimen from Colombia (Santa Marta region), deposited at the Amsterdam Zoological Museum, which had a young and smooth form of polyactines (also found in Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. and named here as polyactines II. In relation to the other Cyamon species from the Atlantic ( Fig. 5 ; Table 2 ), C. arguinense has, in addition to the styles, a subtylostyles type, absent in the new species, and its polyactines has tapered tips in all cladi, while polyactine I of Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. has a tapered clade and others that are rounded. While C. amphipolyactinum has an amphipolyactine kind that is absent in Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. but which has two kinds of usual shape of polyactines (cladi diverging from a single central point). The new species differs from all other species in the genus by having strongyles and two additional kinds of styles. The strongyles I are long and thin, leaving the spicule delicate and easy to break during dissociation and slide preparation. To measure 30 complete spicules of strongyles I, it is necessary to prepare a larger number of slides.

The description of Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. increases to four the number of known species of the genus in the Atlantic Ocean, of which two are known from shallow waters off Brazil. This first record of C. agnani in Bahia expands the geographic and depth limits for this species.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. (MZUSP 478). (A) in situ specimen; (B) preserved specimen; (C) skeletal architecture (arrow in upper right corner—subectosomal styles; upper central arrow—mass of polyactines I and II; lower central arrow—exhalant channels); (D) skeletal architecture (upper central arrow—subectosomal styles; upper left arrow—styles bouquets; lower left arrow—strongyle I). Scales: A = 1 cm; B = 0.5 cm; C, D = 100 µm.

FIGURE 4. Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. (MZUSP 478). (A) strongyle I; (B) base of strongyle I; (C) strongyle II; (D) style I; (E) style II; (F) style III; (G) style IV; (H) style V; (I) polyactine I “young”; (J) polyactine I; (K) detail of basal cladi of polyactine I; (L) detail of lateral cladi of polyactine I; (M) (N) polyactine I; (O) polyactine II; (P) style III and polyactine II. Scales: A = 30 µm; B = 10 µm; C, D, E, F, G, H = 100 µm; I = 10 µm; J, K, L = 20 µm; M, N = 10 µm; O, P = 20 µm.

FIGURE 5. Comparative display of the spicules of Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. and other Cyamon species from West Atlantic. (1) Cyamon pedroalcoladoi sp. nov. (MZUSP 478). (A) strongyle I; (B) strongyle II; (C) style I; (D) style II; (E) style III; (F) style IV; (G) style V; (H) (I) (J) (K) polyactine I; (L) (M) detail polyactine I; (N) style III and polyactine II; (O) polyactine II. Scales: A = 30 µm; B = 10 µm; C, D, E, F, G = 100 µm; H, I, J, K = 10 µm; L, M = 10 µm, N, O = 20 µm. (2) C. agnani Boury- Esnault (1973) from Brazil (Holotype MNHN NBE 947). (A) style I; (B) base of style I; (C) style III; (D) base of style III; (E) style IV; (F) (G) (H) polyactines. Scales: A =100 µm; B = 10 µm; C = 100 µm; D = 10 µm; E = 100 µm; F, G, H = 10 µm. (3) C. agnani Boury-Esnault (1973) from Colombia (ZMA Por 10539). (A) style I; (B) base of style I; (C) upper part of style IV; (D) style III; (E) base of style III; (F) (G) (H) (I) polyactines. Scales: A = 100 µm; B, C = 10 µm; D = 100 µm; E, F, G, H, I = 10 µm. (4) C. amphipolyactinum (ZMA Por. 22412) van Soest et al. (2012). (A) style I; (B) style I end detail; (C) style IV; (D) style IV end detail; (E) style III (F) style III showing size variation; (G) base of style III; (H) polyactine; (I) detail of bulbous end of polyactine lateral cladus; (J) (K) (L) polyactine; (M) (N) amphipolyactines. Scales: A = 100 µm; B, C, D = 10 µm; E, F = 100 µm; G, H = 10 µm; I = 1 µm; J, K, L, M, N = 10 µm. (5) C. arguinense (ZMA Por. 06723) van Soest et al. (2012). (A) subtylostyle; (B) subtylostyle end detail; (C) style V; (D) end and middle part details of style V; (E) (F) (G) polyactines. Scales: A = 100 µm; B = 10 µm; C = 100 µm; D, E, F, G = 10 µm.