Color:
blue
pink-lilac
purple-violet
Morphology:
branching
tube
Consistency:
soft
Sample Locations:
Bahamas
United States
Chalinula molitba
Notes: Light purple to pink to bluish branches or tangled tubes. De Weerdt (2000) included within this species a spongin-dominated morphotype and a spicule-dominating one. Here we include only specimens with spongin-dominated skeletons and use Chalinula pseudomolitba (de Weerdt, Rützler & Smith, 1991) for the spicule-dominated ones. It differs from Ch. pseudomolitba in having a loose network of spongin fibers (ascending and interconnecting) with a few embedded thin spicules.
Author Reference: (de Laubenfels, 1949)
Link: World Porifera Database