Hymedesmia (Hymedesmia) agariciicola

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 : 65

Hymedesmia (Hymedesmia) agariciicola van Soest, 1984

Synonymy and references. Hymedesmia agariciicola van Soest, 1984a: 82, fig. 31.

Material. USNM 1229056, Curlew Bank forereef cave, 20 m; C. Piantoni col. 28 Jun 2007.

External morphology. Thin crust covering the basal body of another sponge ( Oceanapia bartschi ), about 35 cm 2 area; smooth surface, a few inconspicuous oscula of less than 1 mm diameter. Live color is orange red.

Skeleton structure. Acanthostyles (two size classes) in the choanosome, erect, held by a basal sponging plate. Tornotes positioned tangentially in the ectosome. Chelas in between the megascleres.

Spicules. Tornotes, very thin, slightly thicker just before the points: 175–230 x 1–3 (198 x 2) Μm; acanthostyles I: 150–210 x 7–5 (179 x 11) Μm; acanthostyles II: 50– 80 x 5–10 (66 x 8) Μm; chelas I: 30–40 (35) Μm; chelas II: 17–23 (20) Μm

Ecology. Encrusting another sponge ( Oceanapia bartschi ) in a forereef cave, 20 m.

Distribution. Netherlands Antilles and Belize, probably Caribbean-wide.

Comments. All spicule dimensions are larger than those reported for the holotype but all other morphological features agree well.