Haliclona proletaria ( Topsent, 1908 )

Goodwin, Claire E., Berman, Jade & Hendry, Katharine R., 2019, Demosponges from the sublittoral and shallow-circalittoral (<24 m depth) Antarctic Peninsula with a description of four new species and notes on in situ identification characteristics, Zootaxa 4658 (3), pp. 461-508 : 469-470

Haliclona proletaria ( Topsent, 1908)

( Figure 2 )

Synonymy: Reniera proletaria Topsent, 1908

Specimens. BELUM. Mc 2015.540 and BELUM. Mc 2015.547 Gøuvernoren Wreck, Enterprise Island (64°32.407’S, 61° 59.884’W), depth 8–19 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 12/02/2015 . BELUM. Mc 2015.566 BE- LUM. Mc 2015.567 BELUM. Mc 2015.570 Port Lockroy (64°49.572’S, 63° 29.390’W), depth 12–17 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 14/02/2015 . BELUM.Mc2015.576 BELUM.Mc2015.581 BELUM. Mc 2015.583 BE- LUM. Mc 2015.585 BELUM. Mc 2015.587 Port Circumcision, Pieterman Island (65°10.471’S, 64° 08.070’W), depth 5–9 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 15/02/2015 . BELUM. Mc 2015.626 and BELUM. Mc 2015.627 Grotto Island , Verdansky Base (Site 2) (65°14.529’S, 64° 15.451’W), depth 6–18 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 16/02/2015 . BELUM. Mc 2015.651 and BELUM. Mc 2015.652 The Minnows, Prospect Point (66°01.642’S, 65° 21.323’W), depth 6–18 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 17/02/2015 . BELUM. Mc 2015.679 Jenny Island (67°43.325’S, 68° 20.590’W), depth 6–16 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 21/02/2015 . BELUM. Mc 2015.739 Port Charcot, Booth Island (65°03.853’S, 64° 01.868’W), depth 6–16 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 23/02/2015 . BELUM. Mc 2015.776 Paradise Bay Wall (64°53.841’S, 62° 52.391’W), depth 10–24 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 25/02/2015 . BELUM. Mc 2015.795 and BE- LUM. Mc 2015.796 Neptune’s Bellows, Deception Island (62°59.607’S, 60° 33.601’W), depth 7–18 m; collected by C. Goodwin and E. Priestley, 26/02/2015 .

Comparative material examined. Haliclona proletaria ( Topsent 1908) . Holotype NMHN DT 706 . Pourquoipas specimen no. 520.Tissue section on microscope slide.

External morphology. In situ appearance ( Figure 2A ): Soft bright orange sponge which is very variable in form. Usually thickly or thinly encrusting but a few specimens are attached by a thin join to stones and form small lobes. The surface often has low lobes and, in some specimens, finger-like projections. Large oscules (2–4 mm in diameter) are often visible, sometimes terminally on lobes. When freshly collected the specimens had a strong iodine-like smell.

Preserved appearance. Soft, easily broken, pale yellow mass.

Skeleton ( Figure 2C ): Ascending columns of up to four spicules joined by individual spicules. The ends of the spicule columns spread out at the surface but do not project beyond the ectosome.

Spicules ( Figure 2B ): Oxeas with sharp points. Curved, normally angled from the middle rather than smoothly curved. BELUM.Mc2015.540 396(459)520 by 14(18) 23 µm; BELUM.Mc2015.547 440(482)524 by 11(17) 22 µm; BELUM.Mc2015.585 440(498)533 by 17(20) 24 µm, BELUM.Mc2015.567 474(528)581 by 10(16) 20 µm.

Remarks. The type locality of this species is Booth Island where it was found at low tide on rocks. Topsent (1908) describes H. proletaria as extending as polymorphic plates on stones. Although all our specimens were collected sub-tidally many were in very shallow water: the species was particularly abundant in Port Circumcision, Pieterman Island between 5 and 9m in depth (probably also extending into shallower water but this was not sampled). Topsent gives the dimensions of the oxea as 470(550)600 by 16 µm (our measurements from the type specimen are 476(519)613 by 18(21) 23 µm) which is slightly larger than that found in our samples, although it can be seen above that there was some variation between specimens and the spicules of some did approach this size. The overall form and curvature of our specimen’s spicules was very similar to those of the type specimen. This species has not, to our knowledge, been reported elsewhere but because of the lack of characters for identification Haplosclerida are often not identified to species level (as is the case for several other specimens from this study).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Haliclona proletaria (Topsent, 1908). BELUM.Mc2015.585. A. In situ appearance. B. Oxea, scale bar 500 µm. C. Skeleton, scale bar 1000 µm.