Print species info – Sponge Guide

Demospongiae > Clionaida > Spirastrellidae > Spirastrella coccinea

Observed Characteristics:

Color:

red
orange

Morphology:

encrusting

Consistency:

tough

Locations:

Bahamas
United States

Species Description and Notes

Notes: 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 elevated exhalant canals that converge in raised oscula. S. coccinea has a category of stouter spiraster spicules. These two species are extensively compared in Wiedenmayer (1977, with S. hartmani as S. cuncatrix).

Author Reference: (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864)

Link: World Porifera Database