Description

Description HABITUS. Encrusting sponge 5 mm thick and 10 cm long (Fig. 13 A). Surface slightly conulose with visible oscula, ostia and canal network. Slightly hispid. Colour in life reddish orange (Fig. 13 A). Consistency soft. SKELETON. Choanosomal skeleton consisting of bundles of thin styles entirely enclosed in spongin. Dendritic fibres rising up from basal spongin plate. Low spicular density. SPICULES. Megascleres: Smooth styles, bent near the head, ending with tip not pointed but almost rounded (Fig. 13 B – C), 520 – (1616.15) – 2091 μm long and 2.5 – (23.25) – 32.5 μm thick. Habitat Species lives at a depth of 20 m, on a rocky slope covered by coralline algae.

Common Names

No common names available.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Porifera

Class: Demospongiae

Order: Scopalinida

Family: Scopalinidae

Genus: Scopalina

Species: Scopalina cribrosa Bertolino, Costa & Pansini, 2020