Cliona amplicavata Rützler, 1974

Rützler, Klaus, Piantoni, Carla, Van, Rob W. M. & Díaz, Cristina, 2014, Diversity of sponges (Porifera) from cryptic habitats on the Belize barrier reef near Carrie Bow Cay, Zootaxa 3805 (1), pp. 1-129 : 27

Cliona amplicavata Rützler, 1974

Synonymy and references. Cliona amplicavata Rützler, 1974: 26 , figs. 21–23.

Material. USNM 1228922, Carrie Bow Cay, South of boat dock, inside dead conch shell, 1 m; K. Ruetzler col. 26 Apr 1974. USNM 1228923, Carrie Bow Cay, South reef, inside dead conch shell, 1 m; K. Ruetzler col. 4 Aug 2001. USNM 1228924, 1228925 Carrie Bow Cay, back reef and reef flat, inside dead conch shell, 0.5–1 m; K. Ruetzler and C. Piantoni col. 23 Feb 2006.

External morphology. Fairly large, circular papillae, 1–4 mm in diameter, unevenly spaced. Large excavation chambers, 6–12 mm, many confluent, thus reaching up to 10 x 30 mm, filled with soft, slightly mucous tissue. Live color of both papillae and choanosome deep yolk yellow.

Skeleton structure. Spicules in the ectosome (papillae) tend to be packed radially, with points toward and penetrating the surface, in the choanosome they are without orientation.

Spicules. Tylostyles, with raphids as only microscleres. Tylostyles are slightly bent midway their length, have a sharp point and a spherical head that tends to be slightly subterminal, making it drop-shaped. Most heads seem to enclose a small bubble (in transmitted light), a remnant of the axial canal which, in some spicules, is seen extending through most of the length of the shaft; dimensions: 270–350 x 8–12 (310 x 10) Μm. Raphids: 90–160 (107) Μm long,>1Μm thick.

Ecology. In this survey only found inside dead conch shells, 0.5–1 m; observed also on the reef, to 30 m.

Distribution. Bermuda, Netherlands Antilles (Kobluk and van Soest, 1989), and Belize, probably throughout the entire Caribbean region.

Comments. In the field, without a microscope, this sponge is easily confused with Cliona flavifodina Rützler because color and papillae size and distribution, and chambers are very similar. The tissue of the latter, however, feels “dry” (not mucous, soft) when touched.