- Notes: Erect cylinders, light purple or bluish. Surface smooth, slighlty shiny, sometimes with spinous conules on top of branches, with level or slightly elevated oscules often with a transparent iris (sometimes completely closed); interior rather cavernous. Its megasclere spicules (strongyles to strongyloxeas) have been compared with sympatric Bahamian Niphates erecta (mammiform oxea) and Niphates digitalis (hastate oxea). Repent specimens of N. ?caycedoi from Stirrups Cay, N Berry Island, Bahamas have the same spicule complement of co-existing erect N. alba, but they are slightly thinner. Also, the surface has a slightly different aspect (more hispid surface, less oscules).
- Author Reference: van Soest, 1980
- Link: World Porifera Database
| Color: |
| blue |
| gray |
| pink-lilac |
| purple-violet |
| Morphology: |
| branching |
| bushy |
| encrusting |
| lobate |
| massive |
| Consistency: |
| tough |
| Locations: |
| Bahamas - Cat Cays - Bimini |
| Bahamas - Little San Salvador |
| Bahamas - Stirrups Cays, N Berry Islands |
| Bahamas - Sweetings Cay |
Images of Niphates alba :