Fasciospongia cavernosa (Schmidt, 1862)

Manconi, Renata, Cadeddu, Barbara, Ledda, Fabio & Pronzato, Roberto, 2013, An overview of the Mediterranean cave-dwelling horny sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae), ZooKeys 281, pp. 1-68 : 42

Fasciospongia cavernosa (Schmidt, 1862) Fig. 34

Cacospongia cavernosa Schmidt, 1862: 28.

Description.

Growth form tubular, massive, rounded, usually not larger than 10 cm, sometimes up to 25 cm in diameter. Colour dark brown at the surface, light yellowish at the choanosome. Large and abundant irregular cavities and canals scattered in the mesohyl (etymology of the specific name). Consistency strong and cartilaginous; sponge surface covered by very abundant conules (3-4 mm in height) giving a spiny aspect. External membrane smooth, translucent and resistant; flagellate chambers round (25-30 µm in diameter). Skeleton network very strong with large (50-250 µm) rugose or granulated fibres; some of the largest ones cored by foreign debris can be considered as primary fibres.

Habitat.

Cave, coralligenous community, rocky/detritic/muddy bottom, Posidonia oceanica meadow. Sometimes it presents a burrowing behaviour. Bathymetric range 1-367 m.

Mediterranean caves.

Galatea* Cave (Sardinian Sea); Bear, Endoume caves (Gulf of Lions); Giannutri Cave (Central Tyrrhenian Sea); Gozo Cave (Sicily Channel); Porto Cesareo Cave (Ionian Sea); Croatian caves (Northern Adriatic Sea); Arenile, Coccodrillo, Cala Sorrentino caves (Southern Adriatic Sea); Trypia Spilia, Madhes, Andros caves (Aegean Sea) ( Boury-Esnault 1971; Pouliquen 1972; Pulitzer-Finali and Pronzato 1980; Voultsiadou-Koukoura and Koukouras 1993; Borg et al. 2004; Corriero et al. 2004; Pronzato and Manconi 2011; Bakran-Petricioli et al. 2012; Cadeddu 2012).