| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Cribrochalina dura |
3 |
Tan to brown with vinaceous tinges, tangled, repent, crooked and anastomosed, or straight erect branches, with blunt ends, often flattened; branches are somewhat elastic and their consistency is slightly compressible, not stiff or crumbly. Here we are following the description of Cribrochalina dura by Wiedenmayer (1977). What Wilson (1902) originally described has also been placed under genus Petrosia [but different from P. dura (Nardo, 1883) from The Mediterranean]. However, our material and Wilson (1902) and Wiedenmayer (1977) descriptions clearly show the skeletal architecture of Cribrochalina, made of a reticulation of ascending and interconnecting thick multispicular tracts cemented by spongin. Petrosia, in contrast, has a more isotropic and paucispicular reticulation. Hence the different consistencies, tough in Cribrochalina and brittle in Petrosia. Pharetronema zingiberis Sollas 1879 from Jamaica may be conspecific with this species, in which case its name should take priority. At Santa Marta, Colombia, there are branching individuals with rather flat and wide branches intermediate between C. dura and C. vasculum. As regular vase and fan-shaped individuals are absent there, Zea (1987) assigned them to C. vasculum. Whether they are C. vasculum or C. dura remains to be determined. |
(Wilson, 1902) |
cinnamon-tan,brown,purple-violet,branching,fan,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Haplosclerida |
Niphatidae |
Cribrochalina vasculum |
9 |
Also called Cribrochalina infundibulum Schmidt, 1870. Smooth inverted cones, to ear-shaped or fan-shaped, sometimes torn or crooked by waves or predators; color tan to vinaceous. May be confused with Petrosia pellasarca (de Laubenfels, 1934), which is crumbly. Both have a small category of oxeas spicules concentrated at the surface reticulations. But the skeleton of Cribrochalina is made of thick multispicular tracts cemented by spongin, while the one of Petrosia is more paucispicular and loose, hence the different consistencies. Specimens from Santa Marta, Colombia, made of flattened wide branches were asigned to this species by Zea (1987), but their belonging to C. dura remains to be determined. |
(Lamarck, 1814) |
brown,cinnamon-tan,purple-violet,vase,branching,fan,tough |
