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Family: Tetillidae
[Cinachyra alloclada Uliczka, 1929] |
Outer morphology: Massive, subglobular orange (ca 10 cm of diameter), hispid. One obvious oscule at the top of the sponge. Covered with algae and sediments. Skeleton: Radial bundles of oxeas cross the choanosome until and beyond the surface. A whitish ectosome layer is visible with the naked eye (ca 0.9 mm), it has less sigmas than in the choanosome. Anatriaenes are tangled with the oxea bundles. The cladomes of anatriaenes are placed in or just under the ectosome layer, or protruding beyond the surface. Anatriaenes outnumber protriaenes. Many brownish crystalline round structures (diameter of 68–90 μm) are present in the choanosome, only visible in thick sections. Sediments, foreign spicules, foraminifera and diatoms are fairly abundant in the sponge. Spicules: Megascleres: (a) oxeas I, large, length: 2054–2989.1–3666 μm; width: 30–40.2–50 μm. (b) oxeas II (Fig. 2C–D), smooth, slightly bent, less common than oxeas I, length: 95–147.5–170 μm; width: 2–5.3–10.6 μm. (c) protriaenes, width of rhabdome tends to increase from cladome base, rhabdome length: 3110–3486–4200 μm (N=3); rhabdome width: 3.5–8.2–13.5 μm (N=17); clad length: 54–122.5–182 μm (N=17). (d) anatriaenes (Fig. 2E), very common, rhabdome length: 1330–2208.7–2640 μm (N=8); rhabdome width: 3.5–5.3–7 μm; clad length: 48–73.2–95 μm. Microscleres: (e) sigmaspires (Fig. 2F), spiny, length: 8.2–9.8–12.4 μm; width: 0.7–1–1.6 μm. Bocas Species Database Habitat: Coral reef Distribution: Florida, Bahamas North Carolina,Venezuela. Depth: less than 15m Characteristics: Globular sponge up to 10 cm wide, with blind concave depressions (porocalices), 3-15 mm wide; oscules (1-5 mm in diameter) sometimes visible on the top of the sponge. Orange to yellow externally, lighter internally. |