Dragmacidon reticulatum (Ridley & Dendy, 1886)

Ugalde, Diana, Gómez, Patricia & Simões, Nuno, 2015, Marine sponges (Porifera: Demospongiae) from the Gulf of México, new records and redescription of Erylus trisphaerus (de Laubenfels, 1953), Zootaxa 3911 (2), pp. 151-183 : 170-171

Dragmacidon reticulatum (Ridley & Dendy, 1886)

( Figs. 15 A–B, 22A)

Selected synonymy: Axinella reticulata Ridley & Dendy, 1886:481 .

Pseudaxinella lunaecharta ; Wiedenmayer 1977:155; Gómez & Green 1984:81; Zea 1987:195; Rubio-Fernández 1997:57; Gómez 2002:73.

Pseudaxinella reticulata ; Alvarez et al. 1998:15 (with additional synonymy).

Dragmacidon reticulatum ; Rützler et al. 2009:301.

Material examined. CNPGG –1411 Alacranes reef (22°23’44.8”N 89°42’21.9”W) depth 3 m; 03/VIII/2009; CNPGG –1410 Sisal Banks reefs (21°26’16.59”N 90°16’39”W) depth 12 m, 09/VI/2011.

Description. Massive-amorphous or mound shaped sponge, 7 cm wide and 5 cm high, narrower towards the base ( Fig. 22 A). The sponge surface is punctiform, reticulate and microhispid owing to the protruding fibres, like thick evenly distributed conules. Oscules are conspicuous and circular 5‒8 mm in diameter, usually distributed on top of the sponge. The consistency is firm, not easily compressible. Color is bright orange when alive, light orange or beige in alcohol.

Skeleton. Choanosomal skeleton consist of a reticulation of plurispicular tracts without axial condensation (390‒450 µm thick); these are joined by connective fibres 210‒280 µm in diameter, forming meshes of 650 µm width ( Fig. 15 A).

Spicules. Styles bent in the middle and toward round ends, 200‒300 × 6.8‒7.8 µm; oxeas also bent in the middle, 283‒340 × 7.8‒9.8 µm ( Fig. 15 B).

Distribution and ecology. North Carolina, Bahamas, Bermuda , Florida, Colombia, Venezuela, Curaçao, Brazil, on rock patches, mangrove roots and coral reefs at 0.5 to 70 m depth ( Alvarez et al. 1998); Panamá ( Guzmán & Guevara 1998); Cuba (Alcolado 2002) Quintana Roo ( Gómez 2002). Inhabits coral reefs on coral rubble, seaweed and seagrass from 3 to 12 m depth. Rubio-Fernández recorded this species in 1997 as Pseudaxinella lunaecharta in the east border of Campeche Bank, but that record has never been published.

Remarks. Dragmacidon reticulatum has never been collected from Veracruz reefs, although there is one unpublished record from the Campeche Bank area ( Rubio-Fernández 1997). Being a widespread species around the Caribbean Sea, from shallow to 70 m deep, from reefs to mangrove environments, it had not been recorded inside the Gulf except from Florida, in colder waters than the southern part.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Dragmacidon reticulatum (Ridley & Dendy, 1886): A. Choanosomal skeleton in cross section, densely packed tracts and small to wide meshes are visible. B. Common styles and oxeas typically bent toward round ends and the middle.

FIGURE 22. Sponges in situ: A. Dragmacidon reticulatum. B. Agelas tubulata. C. Chalinula molitba. D. Dysidea variabilis.