Ircinia dendroides (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 : 20-21

Ircinia dendroides (Schmidt, 1862) Fig. 15

Hircinia dendroides Schmidt, 1862: 32, 1868.

Description.

Growth form partially erect (ca. 5-10 cm in diameter) with quite cylindrical ramifications (0.8-1.5 cm in thickness) anastomosing in a lax irregular network growing flat on the substrate with few short uprising processes. Colour light to dark grey. Consistency finely sandy. Inhalant and exhalant apertures not evident. Skeleton network irregularly reticulate with large meshes (100-500 µm in diameter) of primary (120-200 µm) and secondary (30-90 µm) fibres. Primaries with a dark pith rich of foreign inclusions; secondaries laminated and converging in several cribrose plates. Spongin filaments abundant (3.5-5.0 µm thick), with a terminal knob (8-10 µm).

Habitat.

Cave, detritic and rocky bottom, coralligenous community. Bathymetric range 1-110 m.

Mediterranean caves.

Blava, Calamars, La Catedral, Meda Petita, Petita de la Vaca, Blue, Misidacis caves (Balearic Sea); Bagaud Cave (Gulf of Lions); Azzurra, Mago, Misteri caves (Central Tyrrhenian Sea); Taccio Vecchio 1 Cave-Lampedusa* (Sicily Channel); Castro Marina, Mazzere*, Gamberi*, Gymnasium* Caves (Ionian Sea); Croatian, Stražica caves (Northern Adriatic Sea); Viole, Spido caves (Southern Adriatic Sea); Agios Nicolaos Cave (Aegean Sea) ( Pansini et al. 1977; Pulitzer-Finali and Pronzato 1980; Bibiloni et al. 1984a, b, 1989; Uriz et al. 1992; Novosel et al. 2002; Harmelin et al. 2003; Pronzato and Manconi 2011; Bakran-Petricioli et al. 2012).