Siphonodictyon sp. nov. 1

Fig. 28

Diagnostic features.

Large massive sponge with abundant long yellow brown oscular tubes (3-12 cm long and 1.5-2 cm wide) that project between shorter, amorphous to digitate drab yellow fistules (1-4 cm high and <10 cm long). Only a soft and smooth oscular tube was collected and had only oxeas as spicules. 18S sequences (738 bp) show that this species is separated phylogenetically from a clade formed by sequences of Siphonodictyon coralliophagum and Siphonodictyon brevitubulatum available on GenBank (Diaz, Segura, and Pomponi, unpublished data).

Similar species.

Oceanapia spp. may have similar oscular tubes and fistules (Santos Neto et al. 2018). The genetic data was essential to provide the generic assignation to this species.

Distribution and abundance.

The species was seen once at Geyer Bank at FGBNMS.

Ecology.

Found in algal nodule beds. This species is a bio-eroding sponge.

Identification.

Iris Segura, KR, MCD.

Reference.

Ruetzler 1971; Ruetzler et al. 2014.