Thorectidae Bergquist, 1978

Sim-Smith, Carina, Hickman, Cleveland & Kelly, Michelle, 2021, New shallow-water sponges (Porifera) from the Galápagos Islands, Zootaxa 5012 (1), pp. 1-71 : 9

Family Thorectidae Bergquist, 1978

Genus Cacospongia Schmidt, 1862

Diagnosis. Massive sponges, with an unarmoured and conulose surface. The skeleton comprises relatively fine, concentrically laminated, primary and secondary fibres. Primary fibres are cored and may form slight fascicles near the sponge surface; secondary fibres are uncored. A granular pith is visible in primary fibres, when not obscured by the coring material, sometimes extending into secondary fibres. The secondary reticulum is well developed, relative to primary fibres, branching and irregular. The sponge surface is finely and evenly conulose, and externally Cacospongia resembles Spongia . However, because of the harsh, brittle nature of the stratified fibres Cacospongia is easily torn, and thus should never be confused in the field with Spongia , which is tough and elastic. The consistency of the sponge is soft to firm, and compressible; the surface is never armoured. There is low to moderate collagen deposition in the ectosome, and surrounding larger canals throughout the mesohyl (from Cook & Bergquist 2002).