the Sponge Guide - www.spongeguide.org

Demospongiae > Poecilosclerida > Desmacellidae > Biemna sp.-"yellow tough cushions"

Observed Characteristics:

Color:

yellow
purple-violet
orange-yellow

Morphology:

massive

Consistency:

crumbly
tough

Sample 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.

Images

Biemna sp.-"yellow tough cushions"


Location: Bahamas, Plana Cays
Photographer: Sven Zea

Location: Bahamas, Plana Cays
Photographer: Sven Zea

Location: Bahamas, Bimini
Photographer: Tse-Lyn Loh