Phyllospongia foliascens (Pallas, 1766)

Amjad, Farah, Ahusan, Mohamed, Amir, Hana, de Villiers, Nina M, Gress, Erika, Mah, Christopher L, Naeem, Shafiya, Rico-Seijo, Nuria, Samaai, Toufiek, Afzal, Maryiam S, Woodall, Lucy C & Stefanoudis, Paris V, 2024, An underwater imagery identification guide for shallow, mesophotic and deep-sea benthos in Maldives, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. e 120128-e 120128 : e120128-

Phyllospongia foliascens (Pallas, 1766)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Phyllospongia foliascens ; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Porifera; class: Demospongiae; order: Dictyoceratida ; family: Thorectidae ; genus: Phyllospongia ; scientificNameAuthorship: (Pallas, 1766); Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Maldives; locality: North Male’, Vaavu, Laamu, Huvadhu, Fuvahmulah, Addu ; minimumDepthInMeters: 59; maximumDepthInMeters: 120; locationRemarks: Nekton Maldives Mission; Identification: identifiedBy: Farah Amjad, Paris Stefanoudis, Toufiek Samaai; dateIdentified: 2022, 2023; identificationRemarks: Identified only from imagery; Event: samplingProtocol: Submersible OR Remotely Operated Vehicle OR Snorkel; Record Level: basisOfRecord: Human observation

Notes

Oliaceous sponges attached to substratum by stalk. Usually made up of two concentric plates. The sponge is rubbery with ostia evenly scattered on the rim of the sponge. Surface smooth. Approximately 17 cm in longest dimension. Colouration light brown to pale grey with lighter shades of yellow (Fig. 13).