A guide to the deep-water sponges of - NMFS Scientific Publications ...
A guide to the deep-water sponges of - NMFS Scientific Publications ...
A guide to the deep-water sponges of - NMFS Scientific Publications ...
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54 Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Paper <strong>NMFS</strong> 12<br />
38. Suberites sp.<br />
Description. This “mobile” sponge lives as an irregularly<br />
globular encrustation on empty gastropod shells.<br />
Frequently lives in symbiosis with hermit crabs including<br />
Pagurus dalli. Surface is smooth <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> unaided eye<br />
but microscopically hispid due <strong>to</strong> dense spicule brushes<br />
that leave open numerous small pores (50–100 µm diameter).<br />
Irregular short tracts in <strong>the</strong> choanosome form<br />
a vague reticulation. Diameter is at least 10 cm. Color in<br />
life is red, orange, or tan; pale yellow in ethanol.<br />
Skeletal structure. Viewed under high magnification,<br />
<strong>the</strong> spicules are relatively dense without particular orientation.<br />
There are tylostyles <strong>to</strong> tylostrongyles (123–350<br />
× 7–12 µm).<br />
Zoogeographic distribution. Locally abundant. In<br />
Alaska – Bering Sea <strong>to</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>ast Alaska.<br />
Habitat. In Alaska – typically encrusts gastropod shells<br />
at depths between 20 and 165 m.<br />
Remarks. This species is indistinguishable from Suberites<br />
domuncula that is common <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> Mediterranean Sea<br />
and Atlantic Ocean along <strong>the</strong> west coast <strong>of</strong> North Africa.<br />
However, we doubt conspecificity based on <strong>the</strong> disjunct<br />
zoogeography and leave <strong>the</strong> species assignment for this<br />
specimen as undecided. The species complex is in desperate<br />
need <strong>of</strong> taxonomic revision. There are probably<br />
several sibling species that live in symbiosis with hermit<br />
crabs (more than a dozen species reported worldwide).<br />
S. domuncula contains suberitine, a neuro<strong>to</strong>xin that can<br />
cause fatal hemolytic hemorrhaging in some animals<br />
including some reef fish. However, <strong>the</strong> hawksbill turtle<br />
(Eretmochelys imbricata) does prey upon it in tropical <strong>water</strong>s<br />
(Meylan, 1988). No studies have been conducted<br />
on Alaskan specimens.<br />
Pho<strong>to</strong>. 1) Specimen collected at a depth <strong>of</strong> 84 m in<br />
<strong>the</strong> central Aleutian Islands. This is <strong>the</strong> ventral side <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> sponge showing <strong>the</strong> cavity in which a hermit crab<br />
Pagurus dalli (completely retracted) is living. Grid marks<br />
are 1 cm 2 .