Clathrina cf. panis ( Haeckel, 1872 )

Rützler, Klaus, Piantoni, Carla, Van, Rob W. M. & Díaz, Cristina, 2014, Diversity of sponges (Porifera) from cryptic habitats on the Belize barrier reef near Carrie Bow Cay, Zootaxa 3805 (1), pp. 1-129 : 101

Clathrina cf. panis ( Haeckel, 1872)

Synonymy and references. Clathrina panis ( Haeckel, 1872) : Klautau and Valentine, 2003: 31, fig. 24.

Material. USNM 1229160, Curlew Bank forereef, small cave, 20 m; C. Piantoni, col. 28 Jun 2007.

External morphology. A whitish cushion made up by interconnected, compressed tubules, the entire specimen was only about 6 mm in diameter, 3 mm high. All was used up in making a microscope preparation.

Skeleton structure. Mostly composed of intermeshed triractines, with a few accompanying diactines and rare tetractines.

Spicules. Triactines are equiradial and equiangular, with actines gradually tapering to dull points. Tetractines are similar in shape but the apical actine is about 20 % shorter than the others. Actines, as much as one can see in the section, measure about 120–140 Μm in length and are 14 Μm thick at the base. Diactines, also tapering gradually toward the points, are 350–500 Μm long, 14–16 Μm thick.

Ecology. Not much is known about the habitats of this inconspicuous species. We only found one specimen in a medium-dark cave environment, along with encrusting demosponges, such as Spirastrella mollis and Monanchora arbuscula .

Distribution. Florida Atlantic coast, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; Cape Verde.

Comments. The specimen is too small to be certain of a correct identification.