| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Niphates alba |
5 |
Erect cylinders, light purple or bluish. Surface smooth, slighlty shiny, sometimes with spinous conules on top of branches, with level or slightly elevated oscules often with a transparent iris (sometimes completely closed); interior rather cavernous. Its megasclere spicules (strongyles to strongyloxeas) have been compared with sympatric Bahamian Niphates erecta (mammiform oxea) and Niphates digitalis (hastate oxea). Repent specimens of N. ?caycedoi from Stirrups Cay, N Berry Island, Bahamas have the same spicule complement of co-existing erect N. alba, but they are slightly thinner. Also, the surface has a slightly different aspect (more hispid surface, less oscules). |
van Soest, 1980 |
blue,gray,pink-lilac,purple-violet,branching,encrusting,massive,bushy,lobate,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Niphates amorpha |
10 |
Originally called Niphates digitalis fo. amorpha. Zea (1987) and other authors synonymized it to Niphates erecta, on the grounds of several individuals having both broad encrusting and erect parts, and in not finding skeletal differences between fully encrusting and branching individuals from the same locality. However, in the Bahamas N. amorpha individuals always have pointed oxea spicules, while N. erecta (repent and erect branches) have their oxeas rather blunt, with mammiform tips, almost like strongyles. Thus, it appears that at least for the Bahamas, N. amorpha is a good species. It remains to be determined if it exists elsewhere and if it maintains skeletal differences with N. erecta. In the World Porifera Database it has been synonymized to Gelliodes sosuae Pulitzer-Finally, 1986, but this remains to be confirmed, as the latter has similar spiculation to Niphates recondita (Wiedenmayer, 1977). |
Wiedenmayer, 1977 |
gray,blue,pink-lilac,encrusting,branching,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Niphates caribica |
8 |
Originally placed under genus Cribrochalina, and later under Amphimedon (see Lehnert & van Soest, 1996). Also named Cribrochalina spiculosa (Dendy, 1890) (see van Soest, 1980). Gray to purplish, irregular fans, firmy compresible but difficult to cut. Skeleton of a reticulation of spicule tracts embedded in spongin, ending at the surface in a paratangential reticulation with spicule brushes. Spicules hastate oxea with slightly telescopic ends, 125-240 x 3.7-6.3 µm. It has the same spicules and similar skeletal arrangement of Niphates digitalis (Lamarck, 1815) and Niphates amorpha Wiedenmayer, 1977. In fact, on can envision a gradation from encrusting forms (N. amorpha) to irregular fans (N. caribica). Also, there are thin, partly closed inverted-cone specimens of N. digitalis which may be easily confused with N. caribica open fans. Perhaps the characteristically spined rim of N. digitalis, vs. a smoother one of N. caribica help telling them apart. The most recently published report (Lehnert & van Soest, 1996) and the World Porifera Database place this species under Amphimedon, but our observations of freshly collected specimens cleary show them as Niphates. |
(Pulitzer-Finali, 1986) |
gray,pink-lilac,vase,fan,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Niphates digitalis |
13 |
Thick vases to thin inverted cones, sometimes becoming fans. Light gray with pinkish or bluish hues; surface spiny, especially on the rim of the atrium. Spicules are pointed oxea. |
(Lamarck, 1814) |
blue,gray,pink-lilac,tube,vase,fan,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Niphates erecta |
7 |
Repent and erect branches, grayish, with pinkish or bluish tones, with scattered oscules; often riddled with zoanthids. Spicules in the Bahamas are blunt to mammiform oxea, sometimes almost strongyles. Thickly encrusting specimens photographed in the Bahamas correspond to what Wiedenmayer (1977) described as Niphates digitalis forma amorpha (synonym Gelliodes sosuae Pulitzer-Finali, 1986), considered as a valid species by van Soest (1980), vis. N. amorpha. In the Bahamas, coexisting specimens of these two forms are readily distinguished by N. amorpha having acute, pointed oxea. In other Caribbean areas, erect specimens have encrusting areas and there are wholly encrusting individuals in wave-swept shores, but spiculation (pointed oxea), color and general aspect coincide. This led to Zea (1987) to consider N. amorpha a junior synonym of N. erecta. The Bahamian encrusting forms are thus a separate valid species. It remains to be determined if it lives elsewhere in the Caribbean. It is distinguished from co-existing Niphates alba because the latter has a more smooth surface (patches of smooth skin over subdermal spaces), a more lavender color, and true strongyles as spicules. |
Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 |
blue,gray,pink-lilac,purple-violet,branching,encrusting,massive,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Niphates recondita |
3 |
Erect, single stem-branch, crown by smaller branchelets. Color gray. Consistency soft, not easily torn. Oscules scattered or aligned on the mayor branch. Spicules are rather blunt oxeas, and sigmas. A possible junior synonim for this species is Gelliodes sosuae Pulitzer-Finali (1986). |
(Wiledenmayer, 1977) |
gray,branching,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Niphates sp.-orange thick encrustation |
1 |
Pale orange thick encrustation with oscules on lobes. Consistency firmly compressible, elastic. Spicules are strongyles in a wide size range, embedded in a reticulation of spongin fibers. Assignation to Niphates is tentative. Another Haplosclerid with yellowish-orangish color and strongyle spicules, with which detailed comparisons are pending, is Niphates lutea Lehnert & van Soest, 1999. |
|
orange,encrusting,tough |
