- Notes: Also known as Myrmekioderma styx de Laubenfels, 1953 [but other Caribbean authors used M. styx erroneously for another species which is known now as M. gyroderma (Alcolado, 1984), also described here]. M. rea grows filling cavities in reef hard substratum or is buried in sand and rubble; only the oscular areas are seen as orange-yellow patches, with the surface as a stretched membrane with fields of oscules. Buried surfaces or free sides have circular grooves which contract when handled, forming characteristic warts. This species may co-exists sympatrically with M. gyroderma in reefs, but it is distinguished from the latter in its growth form (massive and exposed in M. gyroderma), the circular grooves (elongated in M. gyroderma), and in having thinner oxea and styles instead of stout oxeas as principal spicules.
- Author Reference: (de Laubenfels, 1934)
- Link: World Porifera Database
| Color: |
| orange-yellow |
| yellow |
| Morphology: |
| encrusting |
| Consistency: |
| crumbly |
| soft |
| Locations: |
| Bahamas - San Salvador |
| Bahamas - Sweetings Cay |
Images of Myrmekioderma rea :