A guide to the deep-water sponges of - NMFS Scientific Publications ...

73. Stelodoryx vitiazi (Koltun, 1959)
Description. This sponge is tube-shaped, sometimes
irregularly cylindrical, with a hollow center. It occurs
in clusters of up to five individuals and is fragile and
inelastic. Height is to 15 cm and width to 4 cm. Color
in life is light yellow to golden brown.
Skeletal structure. Tangentially arranged tornotes
have acanthaceous ends in the ectosome. There is an irregular
meshwork of paucispicular tracts and individual
acanthostyles in the choanosome. There are tornotes with
acanthose ends (180–291 × 4–7 µm), acanthostyles (370–
520 × 20–29 µm), and anchorate isochelae (25–46 µm).
Zoogeographic distribution. Locally common in
the North Pacific Ocean. In Alaska – central Aleutian
Islands. Elsewhere – Bering Sea (near the Commander
Islands) and the Sea of Okhotsk.
Habitat. In Alaska – attached to cobbles and pebbles at
depths between 155 m and 1009 m. Elsewhere – found
on sand, pebbles, and “reefs” at depths between 115
and 820 m.
Photos. 1) Specimen collected at a depth of 155 m
in the central Aleutian Islands. Grid marks are 1 cm 2 .
2) Specimen collected at a depth of 1009 m in the central
Aleutian Islands. 3) Same specimen as in photo 2
in situ.
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