Haliclona (Halichoclona) vansoesti

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 : 80

Haliclona (Halichoclona) vansoesti de Weerdt, de Kluijver & Gomez, 1999

Synonymy and references. Haliclona (Halichoclona) vansoesti de Weerdt, de Kluijver & Gomez, 1999: de Weerdt, 2000: 49, figs. 2D, 3C, 34.

Material. USNM 1229102, Carrie Bow Cay East, forereef crevice, bottom, 24 m; M. C. Diaz col. 8 Sep 2009.

External morphology. Cavernous cushions, to 25 mm thick, extending over 10–80 cm 2 (and more) of coralrock substratum and partly covered by crustose coralline algae. The sponge also encrusts the calcareous plates of dead Halimeda algae. Oscula large and conspicuous, usually raised, more or less circular in outline, up to 12 mm in diameter. Consistency hard and brittle, live color light (neon-tone) blue, turning black during preservation in alcohol (which becomes stained blackish as well).

Skeleton structure. Unispicular reticulation in the ectosome, becoming denser in the choanosome where it is interrupted by numerous cavities. Spongin connecting the spicule tips is only visible in stained sections.

Spicules. Lightly curved oxeas tapering to sharp points: 160–280 x 3–7 (219 x 6) Μm.

Ecology. In forereef caves and under coral overhangs, to 52 m depth.

Distribution. Caribbean-wide.

Comments. The original authors of this species (de Weerdt et al., 1999) suspected its limestone excavating capability. This we could confirm on sections of epoxy resin-embedded sponge-substratum interface, where sponge tissue is seen that penetrated rock crevices and dislodged fragments of limestone resembling clionaid excavation chips. These sections also show a great abundance of large cells (7–14 (9) Μm), which stain dark blue in toluidin blue dye and could possibly be the storage cells for secondary metabolites mentioned in the cited paper.