| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cervicornia cuspidifera |
6 |
Tan or mustard yellow, antler like, erect irregular cylinders arising from the sandy or rubble bottom, single or in groups. There is a large portion buried under the substratum. Formerly placed under genus Spheciospongia, and also known erroneously as Xestospongia tierneyi (see Wiedenmayer, 1977 and Vicente et al., 1991). |
(Lamarck, 1815) |
yellow,cinnamon-tan,branching,bushy,lobate,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona ?peponaca |
1 |
Excavating sponge. Orange oscular and inhalant papillae; tylostyle spicules with a well-formed head, no microscleries. Identity pending further revision. May be confused with papillated Cliona delitrix Pang, 1973. |
Pang, 1973 |
orange,papillated,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona aprica |
9 |
Excavating sponge. Fields of black papillae, often partly fused, level with the substratum, slightly elevated when relaxed. This sponge excavates the upper 1-2 cm of the substratum, filling cavities with a greenish yellow tissue. For distinction from other similar species see Zea & Weil (2003). |
Pang, 1973 |
black,encrusting,papillated,hard,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona caribbaea |
63 |
Also known as Cliona langae Pang, 1973. Dark green to brown incrustations, spread over the excavated substratum, reaching sizes up to about 1-2 m; young specimens are made of partly fused papillae. Oscules conspicuous, usually of lighter color. Can be confused with Cliona tenuis (not yet found in the Bahamas), which is thinner (the substratum is visible through the tissue) and has tiny oscules (apart from spiculation, see Zea and Weil, 2003). This sponge excavates the upper 1-2 cm of the substratum, filling cavities with a greenish yellow tissue. |
Carter, 1882 |
green,black,brown,gray,cream,encrusting,papillated,hard,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona delitrix |
26 |
Excavating sponge. It excavates and encrusts massive corals. Externally it appears as a bright red encrustation with many scattered elevated papillae and one or several large and deep oscules with a high dermal collar. Often riddled with zoanthids. Excavations are deep, filled with orange tissue. We have included here the papillated forms which in some areas are dominant, perhaps because coralline or turf algae (or predators?) do not allow them to grow larger and fuse papillae. From the above, it is our belief that Cliona laticavicola Pang, 1973 (papillated sponges described originally from the same locality of C. delitrix) are either young individuals or ecophenotypes of C. delitrix. |
Pang, 1973 |
red,yellow,green,orange,encrusting,papillated,tough,soft,crumbly,hard |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona schmidti |
1 |
Excavating sponge. Sparse, rather cryptic papillae; it was revealed to us when collecting another excavating sponge (Cliona aprica Pang, 1973, righ side of photo) as a deep blue excavating tissue (center of photo). C. schmidti was originally described from the Mediterranean Sea. It remains to be determined if W. Atlantic populations are conspecific or different. |
(Ridley, 1881), sensu Pang (1973) |
blue,papillated,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona sp. amber papillae |
4 |
Excavating sponge. Amber brown-tan papillae. One specimen has tylostyles and thick spirasters; the other specimen only has tylostyles. It may be a young form of Cliona varians (Duch. & Mich., 1864), but it needs to be compared with C. flavifodina Rützler, 1974 and C. paucispina Rützler, 1974. |
|
yellow,cinnamon-tan,papillated,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona sp.-orange crust |
2 |
Excavating sponge. Orange incrustation with large oscules, no papillae. Should not be confused with co-occurring C. delitrix Pang, 1973, which show elevated papillae even in fully encrusting individuals. Spicules are close to C. dioryssa (de Laubenfels, 1950, as Spirastrella; tylostyles and rather stout spirasters and deriatives), which is described from Bermuda (see also Rützler, 1974) as ragged coalescing encrustations not larger than a few cm, with minute and contractile oscules. Also needs to be compared with co-occurring C. varians (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864). |
|
orange,encrusting,tough,hard |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona tenuis |
5 |
Excavating sponge. It encrust entirely the excavated substratum with a thin veneer of brown tissue; the underlying coral skeleton can be discerned. Oscules are small and inconspicuous. Can grow up to several m in diameter, especially in fore reef pavement settings. It prefers windward, wave-exposed shallow reefs. We did not observe it in the Bahamas, because we did not visit open windward reef sites. The accompanied photos are from Colombia. It has been colonizing the dead stands of the elkhorn coral Acropora palmata throughout the Caribbean. It can be distinguished from C. caribbaea Carter, 1882 by the latter being thicker and with larger oscules; there are also slight spicular differences (size and shape, see Zea & Weil, 2003). This sponge excavates the upper 1-2 cm of the substratum, filling cavities with a greenish yellow tissue. |
Zea & Weil, 2003 |
brown,encrusting,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona varians |
18 |
Previously placed under genus Anthosigmella. Excavating sponge. Dull orange to tan or brownish, thick encrustations that may cover several square meters of substratum. Oscules are relatively large, paler and slighlty elevated. |
(Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) |
yellow,brown,orange,green,cream,cinnamon-tan,encrusting,fan,massive,tough,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Cliona vermifera |
4 |
Excavating sponge in which its small red-orange papillae are the only feature visible on the substratum. Upon breaking the coral where it dwells, the excavating chambers are revealed, which are filled by orange tissue. It can be confused with other tiny papillated sponges such as the excavating Pione lampa fo. occulta Rützler, 1974, and the non-excavating but crevice filling (when in reefs) Tedania ignis (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864). Papillae of Cliona delitrix Pang, 1973 are larger. |
Hancock, 1867 |
orange,red,papillated,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Pione lampa |
6 |
Excavating and encrusting sponge, covering the excavated the substratum with a thin layer of orange-red tissue, from which the excavated substratum is visible. The excavating tissue is of the same color of the external tissue. Previously placed under Cliona, but transfered to Pione by having a spicule complement of tylostyles, crenulated oxea and spiny microrhabds. We are including here shallow reef specimens which just show tiny papillae on the substrate, which were previously named fo. occulta Rützler, 1974. Perhaps predators do not allow the sponge to overgrow the substratum. These can be confused with papillated Cliona delitrix Pang, 1973 (which were originally named C. laticavicola Pang, 1973), which has larger oscules and papillae. It can also be confused to papillated reef Tedania ignis (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864). |
(de Laubenfels, 1950) |
orange,red,encrusting,papillated,tough,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Clionaidae |
Spheciospongia vesparium |
21 |
Also known as Spheciospongia othella de Laubenfels, 1950. Black, leathery skin, and dark gray interior. Young reef individuals are encrusting and excavating, with a few scattered large and deep oscules, often like low volcanoes. Larger specimens are globular with one or two large atria. Surface with scattered fields of holes, often colonized by whitish zoanthids. Young specimens inhabiting sand and rubble appear as scattered elevated lobular papillae with many perforations, protruding from the substrate. Large specimens are giant barrels or globules, with 1-2 thick-lipped large atria, and the surface with the same perforated papillae. There exists S. vesparium forma pallida Vicente, Rützler & Carballeira, 1991 described from Puerto Rico but not yet found in the Bahamas. |
(Lamarck, 1815) |
black,encrusting,massive,papillated,vase,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Placospongiidae |
Placospherastra antillensis |
7 |
Erroneously being called Diplastrella megastellata (Hechtel, 1965), which is a good, different species. Bright red or orange encrustations. Tough and leathery cortex. Suface pierced by rounded to elongated furrows with slightly elevated borders; furrows are not connected to each other; oscules round and large, interspersed throughout the surface, with slightly elevated collars. There is a cortex of spheraster spicules (developmental stages diplaster-like), supported by rather sparse thick tracts of tylostyle spicules. A small category of micraster spicules is present. Although Placospherastra is described as having polygonal armor plates as Placospongia, from live photos this characteristic is not clear. Unfortunately, we failed in disturbing the specimens previous to taken the photos, to have them close the furrows and show the plates. However, the spiculation closely conforms to this genus and its species antillensis as originally described. From light microscopy alone, we have not been able to confirm the presence of rings of small spines ornamenting the main spines of the spherasters. |
van Soest, 2009 |
red,orange,encrusting,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Placospongiidae |
Placospongia sp. 2 (?intermedia sensu de Laubenfels, 1936) |
1 |
Orange encrusting sponge with the surface covered by irregularly polygonal armor plates. Spaces between plates with soft tissue and oscules. According to the recent review of van Soest (2009), it may correspond to Placospongia intermedia sensu de Laubenfels (1936), from the Caribbean side of Panama, but detailed comparisons of spicules is pending for confirmation. |
|
orange,encrusting,hard |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Polymastiidae |
Polymastia tenax |
7 |
This sponge appears as reddish brown groups of large papillae surrounding tall membranous oscules, filling crevices or growoing among coral branches. It is very tough and papillae contract upon contact. Very probably this species is a junior synonym of Polymastia nigra Alcolado, 1984. Upon confirmation, the latter name would have priority. Another species that may be conspecific with these is P. fordei Lehnert & van Soest, 1999. Spicule lenght and thickness and degree of development of subtylostyle spicule head appear to vary geographically, generating confusion. |
Pulitzer-Finali, 1986 |
brown,black,encrusting,papillated,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Spirastrellidae |
Spirastrella coccinea |
18 |
Thick, leathery incrustations with scattered, slighlty elevated oscules. Color bright vermillion in shallow specimens, dull red in deeper specimens, the latter as a result of having a withish skin patched by bright colored inhalant areas (oscular collars are also whitish). S. hartmani Boury-Esnault, Klautau, Bézac, Wulff and Solé-Cava, 1999 is distinguished from S. coccinea by having a salmon color, a softer consistency, and clearly elevanted exhalant canals that converge in raised oscula. S. coccinea has a category of stouter spiraster spicules. |
(Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) |
red,orange,encrusting,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Spirastrellidae |
Spirastrella hartmani |
17 |
Previoulsy known as S. cuncatrix (Schmidt, 1868), which is a different species from the Mediterranean. Thick encrustantions, salmon color to dull orange, usually with oscules and exhalant canals forming an elevanted vein star pattern over the surface. S. mollis Verrill, 1907 may be a previous name, but as the type specimen seems to be lost (Boury-Esnault et al., 1999), it cannot be compared at present. It may be a valid, different species, existing only in Bermuda. However, as in other reef localities of the Caribbean there are only two Spirastrella coexisting morphs corresponding to S. hartmani and to S. coccinea (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864), S. mollis may have priority over S. hartmani. S. coccinea is bright vermillion or dull red, more leathery, and has a stouter category of spiraster spicules. Deep water specimens of S. hartmani in the Bahamas also have stout spirasters adding confusion to the distinction between these two species. Detailed comparisons of pairs of specimens from each locality may help resolve this problem. |
Boury-Esnault, Klautau, Bézac, Wulff & Solé-Cava, 1999 |
brown,orange,gray,cinnamon-tan,cream,encrusting,tough,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Suberitidae |
Aaptos lithophaga |
4 |
Exterior black, interior cream; rounded masses or sprawling thick encrustations. Originally described from The Bahamas under the genus Epipolasis. Spicules are thick to very thin long styles to styloids to anysostrongyles. |
(Wiedenmayer, 1977) |
black,brown,encrusting,massive,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Suberitidae |
Prosuberites laughlini |
3 |
Originally described under genus Eurypon. Thickly encrusting, bright orange, with a rather uneven and rough surface, with scattered oscules having an elevated, transparent collar. Spicules protrude from the surface. |
(Diaz, Alvarez & van Soest, 1987) |
orange,encrusting,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Suberitidae |
Suberites aurantiacus |
1 |
Also placed under genus Terpios, and known also as Terpios zeteki de Laubenfels, 1936. Tangled, finger-shaped or lobular branches in lagoonal, usually brackish environments. Internal color can be orange to yellow, tinged in the surface with gray, green, purple tones. Wide and deep oscules on top and sides of branches. Upon handling, the skin retracts; the sponge then is reminiscent of a Codium green algae. For the lack of pictures from the Bahamas, a photo from Colombia is included. |
(Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) |
green,orange,gray,yellow,branching,lobate,tough |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Suberitidae |
Terpios belindae |
1 |
Thin, orange encrustations; small oscules spread throughout the surface. Distinguished from other orange encrustations by its pin-like tylostyle spicules with lobed heads. |
Rützler & Smith, 1993 |
orange,encrusting,soft |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Tethyidae |
Tectitethya crypta |
9 |
Also placed under genera Tethya and Cryptotethya. Thick to globular masses with top, membranous oscules. Surface papillated. Heavy fouling prevents detailing the surface and color, which is dark olive green. The species lives in sand and rubble in lagoonal environments. Sarŕ & Bavastrello (1996) described several new species of Tectitethya from the Caribbean (e.g., T. keyensis, T. macrostella) that are externally and internally similar to T. crypta. All our specimens were assigned to T. crypta on the basis of the typical external shape and color. Whether these conform to one or various species cannot be determined at the moment. |
(de Laubenfels, 1936) |
white,green,black,massive,tough,soft,crumbly |
| Demospongiae |
Hadromerida |
Timeidae |
Timea ?micraster |
1 |
Thinly encrusting, soft, bright vermillion red with oscules and exhalant canals visible forming a star pattern. Skeleton as closely spaced brushes or erect tylostyles 240-520 by 5-11µm, traversing a cortex of diplaster-like spherasters microscleres. Also present are microamphiasters. The closest Timea species described for the Caribbean is Timea micraster. Our identification is tentative pending further comparisons. |
(Lehnert & Heimler, 2001) |
red,orange,encrusting,soft |
