Rhizaxinella ramulosa (Ridley & Dendy, 1886)

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-

Rhizaxinella ramulosa sp. inc. (Ridley & Dendy, 1886)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Rhizaxinella ramulosa ; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Porifera; class: Demospongiae; order: Suberitida ; family: Suberitidae ; genus: Rhizaxinella ; scientificNameAuthorship: Ridley & Dendy, 1886; Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Maldives; locality: North Male’, Addu ; minimumDepthInMeters: 489; maximumDepthInMeters: 489; 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

Description

Pedunculate sponges supported by a short stalk. Stalk is hard like bark. Surface hispid and undulating. One oscule present on the apex of peduncule. Approximately 6 cm tall. Colouration white to light yellow shades (Fig. 24).