Observed Characteristics:
Color:
- red
- orange
- orange-yellow
Morphology:
- branching
- bushy
- encrusting
- massive
Consistency:
- crumbly
- soft
Locations:
- Bahamas
- Colombia
- United States
Species Description and Notes
Notes: Thick encrustations to repent branches with scattered membranous oscules. Surface smooth or with spined elevations (possibly made up by worm tubes or hydroid stalks). Skin transparent and thick; the orange to red color looks like curd beneath the dermis. Material from the Bahamas did not have microsclere spicules, but the identification was made from the skeletal arrangement, texture and color. Florida material only have part of the microsclere spicule complement, and variable among specimens.
Author Reference: (Arndt, 1927)
Link: World Porifera Database
Tissue and Spicule Images
Images
microsigmatosa
- Location: Bahamas, Sweetings
- Photographer: Sven Zea
- Location: Colombia, Santa Marta
- Photographer: Sven Zea
- Location: United States, Florida, Biscayne Bay
- Photographer: Sven Zea
- Location: United States, Florida, Biscayne Bay
- Photographer: Sven Zea
- Location: United States, Florida, Biscayne Bay
- Photographer: Sven Zea
- Location: Bahamas, Sweetings Cay
- Photographer: Sven Zea
- Location: Bahamas, Sweetings Cay
- Photographer: Sven Zea