Sponge Guide

UNCW National Science Foundation Valdosta State University Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Observed Characteristics:

Color:

  • black

Morphology:

  • encrusting

Consistency:

  • tough

Sample Locations:

  • Bahamas

Amphimedon complanata

Notes: Black, thickly encrusting; skeleton as a reticulation of spongin fibers with a few spicules embedded in the ascending fibers. It can be confused with dark brown encrusting Amphimedon compressa Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864, also pictured here. It has a reticulation of clear spongin fibers with a few spicules included. When touched, a subsuperficial pattern of vertical canals, wider than in A. compressa, is visible below the ectosome.

Author Reference: (Duchassaing, 1850)

 

Link: World Porifera Database