Observed Characteristics:
Color:
- gray
- green
- black
- cream
Morphology:
- encrusting
- lobate
- massive
Consistency:
- tough
Locations:
- Bahamas
- Colombia
Species Description and Notes
Notes: Also named Hyattella intestinalis (Lamarck, 1814) (a name from the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific). Semiburied masses crown with irregular processes and lobes, gray to black on top, gray to cream on the sides and in buried parts. Areas of semitransparent skin pierced by fields of holes are common. The material examined from the Bahamas possess the characteristic Spongiidae (commercial sponge) primary (cored) and secondary reticulation, plus the tertiary reticulation supporting the dermis in some parts. Not to be confused with Hyrtios cavernosus sensu Wiedenmayer (1977), which is a different species also included here, that may need a different name as the latter author believed it was conspecific with Pallas’ Spongia cavernosa.
Author Reference: (Pallas, 1766)
Link: World Porifera Database
Tissue and Spicule Images
Images
cavernosa
- Location: Santa Marta, Colombia
- Photographer: Sven Zea
- Location: Santa Marta, Colombia
- Photographer: Sven Zea
- Location: Northern Exuma Cays, Bahamas
- Photographer: Sven Zea