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Family: Chalinidae
[Haliclona wallentinae] |
Bocas Species Database Habitat: The species was found thriving on a shallow reef, profusely overgrowing fire coral (Millepora spp ), soft corals, scleractineans, and other sponges such a Neofibularia nolitangere. It appeared to be a rather aggressive species over all other benthic inhabitants. Distribution: Bocas del Toro, Panamá. Characteristics: Shape: Thin encrusting sheets (1-2 mm thick) covering from a few to more than 50 cm2 patches. Colour: Deep Dark- brown to purple outside, tan inside. Consistency: soft, compressible, and resilient, easy to peel off the substrate where it grows. Surface: Smooth, to irregularly rugose to the naked eye, slippery to the touch; highly porous under scope.. Apertures: Small oscules (1-2 mm in diameter), with transparent membranes, regularly distributed over the sponge surface. Radial canals departing from oscules. Spicule tracts pierce through the skin creating a microhispid appeareance, only visible under the scope. Skeleton: spicules are hastate to fusiform oxea, straight or slightly curved (100-180 x 2-9 um). Sponging scarce, not abundantly visible. Ectosomal skeleton: little developed. Some paucispicular spicule tracts and loose spicules strewn. Not a peelable skin. Ectosome on the underside of the crust accumulates sand. Choanosomal skeleton: Paucispicular loose spicule tracts (20-40 um in diameter), and mostly unispicular tracts or single spicules connecting them. Spicule tracts densely surrounded by filamentous cyanobacteria. |