| Demospongiae |
Astrophorida |
Pachastrellidae |
Dercitus (Halinastra) luteus |
4 |
Bright lemon yellow encrustations or cavity-filling masses living in crevices and under corals, with the tissue peculiarly stretched from wall to floor or wall to wall. It turns dark purple-brown when exposed to air. Originally placed under genus Pachataxa (P. lutea) of family Calthropellidae (see van Soest et al., 2010). Material from the Bahamas only has a few of the calthrop megasclere spicules characteristic of the species, and quite deformed and of much smaller size than those from the type locality (Jamaica) and from Colombia. |
(Pulitzer-Finali, 1986) |
yellow,encrusting,massive,tough |
