| Demospongiae |
Halichondrida |
Dictyonellidae |
Svenzea cristinae |
1 |
Thick, crumbly to soft encrustations, golden brown, with the interior cream. Oscules on top of lobed elevations; sometimes lobes grow upwards and ramify. Spicules are curved to sinuous styles, 420-480 µm. Most specimens from the localities where it was described (Belize, Jamaica) have also oxea spicules, but these are reported to be sometimes absent. It has the dark granular cells in the interior characteristic of the genus Svenzea (see Svenzea zeai in this guide). |
Alvarez, van Soest & Rützler, 2002 |
brown,cinnamon-tan,encrusting,lobate,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Halichondrida |
Dictyonellidae |
Svenzea flava |
9 |
Originally described under genus Pseudaxinella. Orange-yellow to yellow thick encrustations to masses, with oscular lobes. Surface smooth; fields of pores are scattered in concave areas. Subsurface color is purple brown, internal color cream. Spicules are strongyles, often slightly asymmetrical (could be called styloids, but the less blunt end is not as pointed as in, for example, S. tubulosa). Alvarez et al. (2002) suggested it to belong to genus Svenzea but it lacks the dark granulous cells that other species of the genus have. |
(Lehnert & van Soest, 1999) |
yellow,cinnamon-tan,orange-yellow,encrusting,tube,massive,lobate,soft,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Halichondrida |
Dictyonellidae |
Svenzea sp. lobes, fans or branches |
7 |
Lobes, ridges or branches arising from an encrusting base. Yellowish to golden brown exterior, purple in the subsurface and creamy inside. Consistency compressible, spongy, but somewhat hard to cut or tear. Skeleton as a plumose paucispicular reticulation of slightly asymetric (oxeote) strongyles 150-230 x 2.5-7.5 µm. Svenzea flava Lehnert & van Soest, 1999 and Svenzea tubulosa (Alcolado & Gotera, 1986) are similar in coloration and spiculation but the spicules are larger and thicker than the present species. This species also seem to lack the strongly pigmented cells described for genus Svenzea. It should be compared to Neopetrosia dominicana (Pulitzler-Finali, 1986, as Xestospongia), which is described from a brown, slightly resilient, subcylindrical fragment, as having strongyles, slightly curved, 140-260 x 5-14 µm. |
|
yellow,cinnamon-tan,fan,lobate,branching,massive,tough,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Halichondrida |
Dictyonellidae |
Svenzea sp.-thick tubes |
6 |
A group of thick vases-tubes, cinnamon-tan in external color, soft and crumbly; subsurface color purplish, interior cream. Spicules are strongyles, curved and somewhat flexuous. In The Bahamas, it has only been seen in deep reef of Plana Cays. From its shape, at some point we thought it could be Xestospongia caminata Pulitzler-Finali, 1986, but the latter has oxeas as spicules. Svenzea sp. has a skeleton of ascending and interconnecting loose spicule tracts, ladder like, embedded in spongin, somewaht similar to Svenzea flava Lehnert & van Soest, 1999, Svenzea tubulosa (Alcolado & Gotera, 1986) and Svenzea sp-lobes or branches, but with the ascending tracts less obvious and plumose; as these, it also seem to lack the strongly pigmented cells described for genus Svenzea. |
|
pink-lilac,cinnamon-tan,tube,vase,fan,lobate,tough,soft,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Halichondrida |
Dictyonellidae |
Svenzea tubulosa |
9 |
Originally described under genus Scopalina. Tubes and bushes arising from crevices in the bottom. Tubes often have more than one hole. External color yellow, subsurface color purple, interior color cream.The genus allocation here is due to its similarity in texture, color and skeleton to Svenzea flava (Lehnert & van Soest, 1999), although S. tubulosa lacks as S. flava the strongly pigmented cells defined for the genus (see Alvarez et al., 2000). It has erroneously been considered the same as Ectyoplasia ferox, which has different spicules [stout styles and smaller styles spined at the tip in E. ferox, styloids (pointed end blunt) in S. tubulosa] and skeleton (plumose ascending, echinated tracts in E. ferox vs. Plumose ascending and interconnected tracts forming a reticulation in S. tubulosa). Also, E. ferox is a bit stiffer and may have tubes, but arising from an encrusting base, while the base in S. tubulosa is buried. |
(Alcolado & Gotera, 1986) |
yellow,orange,cinnamon-tan,tube,branching,papillated,bushy,lobate,crumbly,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Halichondrida |
Dictyonellidae |
Svenzea zeai |
13 |
Formerly considered (erroneously) Calyx podatypa (de Laubenfels, 1934), which is a valid, different species from shallow crevices (see Zea, 1987, and this catalogue). Originally and tentatively placed under genus Pseudaxinella. Thick encrustations to masses with low to high to globular volcano-shaped oscular mounds. Dark brown exterior and creamy interior. Very crumbly. It is one of the most abundant sponges in Caribbean reefs (but scarce at Santa Marta, Colombia, an area of seasonal upwelling). |
(Alvarez et al., 1998) |
brown,cream,encrusting,tube,massive,lobate,soft,crumbly |
