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Demospongiae > Biemnida > Biemnidae > Biemna sp.-“yellow tough cushions”

Observed Characteristics:

Color:

  • yellow
  • purple-violet
  • orange-yellow

Morphology:

  • massive

Consistency:

  • crumbly
  • tough

Locations:

  • Bahamas

Species Description and Notes

Notes: Small, tough but crumbly and mucosy cushions, with a yellow punctiform surface. Subsuperficial color is dark purple, some specimens thus appearing darker, especially after collecting; internal color cream. Different from Biemna caribea Pulitzer-Finali, 1986 and from B. cribaria (Alcolado & Gotera, 1986), both pictured here. Spicules are styles, 2-3 categories of sigmas, 2 categories of microxea, and raphides. It needs to be compared to Biemna trisigmata Mothes & Campos, 2004, from North Brazil, with which it shares many characters.

Tissue and Spicule Images

Images

sp.-“yellow tough cushions”

  • Location: Plana Cays, Bahamas
  • Photographer: Sven Zea
  • Location: Plana Cays, Bahamas
  • Photographer: Sven Zea
  • Location: Bimini, Bahamas
  • Photographer: Tse-Lyn Loh