Haliclona (Haliclona) clairae, Sim-Smith & Hickman & Kelly, 2021

Sim-Smith, Carina, Hickman, Cleveland & Kelly, Michelle, 2021, New shallow-water sponges (Porifera) from the Galápagos Islands, Zootaxa 5012 (1), pp. 1-71 : 13-14

Haliclona (Haliclona) clairae sp. nov.

( Fig. 6 , Table 1 & Table 2)

Material examined. Holotype — MCCDRS9445, Nameless Island , 0.67° S, 90.586° W, 24 m, 9 Aug 2003 . Paratype — MCCDRS9444, Los Hermanos Islands , 0.867° S, 90.782° W, 9 m, 18 Jan 2003 .

Type locality. Nameless Island .

Habitat and distribution. Nameless Island and Los Hermanos Islands. Found growing on vertical rock walls; 9–24 m.

Description. Very thinly encrusting sponge, base 3 mm thick, densely covered with long, thin oscular fistules, ≤ 2 mm in diameter (height unknown as collected specimen is too small). Aquiferous canals are visible under the semi-translucent surface membrane, giving the sponge a punctate appearance. Colour in life lilac with patches of cream and tan, tips of fistules are translucent white ( Fig. 6A ). Colour in ethanol is tan. Fistules collapse upon preservation. Texture is very soft, compressible, easily torn.

Skeleton. Ectosome is a tangential, isotropic reticulation ( Fig. 6B ). Choanosome is an anisotropic reticulation with primary tracts that are multispicular and ascend parallel to one another, secondary tracts are unispicular and regularly connect the primary tracts. Spongin is moderately abundant at the nodes ( Fig. 6C ).

Spicules. Megascleres —small oxeas with sharply pointed tips; 120 (111–139) × 7 (4–9) µm (n = 40) ( Fig. 6D ).

Etymology. Named for co-author Cleveland Hickman’s grand-daughter Claire.

Remarks. Only one species of Haliclona has been described from the Galápagos Islands — H. (Rhizoniera) enamela Laubenfels, 1930 , a light brown, thinly encrusting sponge with small oscules (≤ 1.5 mm in diameter), small oxeas (~120 µm) and no ectosomal skeleton.

Two species of Haliclona (Haliclona) have been described from the tropical/subtropical eastern Pacific. The most similar species to H. (H.). clairae sp. nov. is H. sonorensis Cruz-Barraza & Carballo, 2006 from the Mexican Pacific Coast. This species is thinly encrusting, dark purple, and has similar sized oxeas (127 (100–145) µm) but lacks the long fistular oscules of H. (H.) clairae sp. nov. Haliclona (H.) ambrosia Dickinson, 1945 from California differs from H. (H.). clairae sp. nov. by possessing two size categories of oxeas.

Four species of Haliclona have been described from Easter Island that have not been assigned to a subgenus: H. agglutinata Desqueyroux-Faúndez, 1990 , H. rapanui ( Desqueyroux-Faúndez, 1990) , H. nitens Desqueyroux- Faúndez, 1990, and H. translucida Desqueyroux-Faúndez, 1990 . All four species lack the long fistules of H. (H.) clairae sp. nov. In addition, H. rapanui and H. nitens possess two size categories of oxeas, H. translucida is a white or yellowish sponge, and H. agglutinata is a firm sponge with narrow oxeas (≤ 5 µm thick).

Two other species of Haliclona that have not been assigned to a subgenus are described from the tropical/subtropical eastern Pacific. Haliclona macropora ( Thiele, 1905) from Juan Fernández Islands and H. thielei Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 from Chile have similar sized oxeas to H. (H.) clairae sp. nov., but both species lack the long fistular oscules of H. (H.) clairae sp. nov. ( Table 2).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Haliclona (Haliclona) clairae sp. nov. A. Holotype, MCCDRS9445, in situ. B. Surface view of sponge showing the tangential ectosome of paratype, MCCDRS9444. C. Cross section of the choanosome of the holotype showing the multispicular parallel ascending primary tracts (black arrows) and regular, unispicular secondary tracts (white arrows). D. Oxeas from paratype.