Cladocroce reina, Aguilar-Camacho, Jose Maria & Carballo, Jose Luis, 2010

Aguilar-Camacho, Jose Maria & Carballo, Jose Luis, 2010, First record of Cladocroce (Porifera: Haplosclerida: Chalinidae) from the Eastern Pacific ocean with the description of Cladocroce reina sp. nov., Zootaxa 2603, pp. 65-68 : 65-67

Cladocroce reina sp. nov

Holotype: MNCN 1.01/630. 23 /10/2007, Parque de la Reina (Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico), 3 m 16°50’56.97’’N, 99°54’62.43’’W. Paratype: LEB-ICML-UNAM-1818 23/10/2007, Palao Isla La Roqueta (Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico), 3 m 16°49’24.49’’N, 99°54’22.58’’W.

Description: The holotype is a cushion-shaped sponge about 6 cm in diameter and 2 cm thick. The surface is smooth. Ostial orifices are 60–340 µm in diameter. Oscules are circular, 3–9 mm in diameter. They are elevated 1–2 mm and scattered. The consistency is compressible and somewhat fragile. Color in life is sky blue, and after preservation it becomes pale. The paratype is thinly-encrusting, 1–5 cm long and 1–2 cm thick ( Fig. 1 A). Ostial orifices measurements are as in the holotype, but in some cases the oscules are not so abundant; in contrast, the color in life is greenish.

Spicules and skeleton: Spicules are robust almost fusiform oxeas, sometimes slightly curved. Spicules with acerated tips and styloid are commonly present. Spicule measurements: 130–(151.7)–175 µm × 5–(6.6)–7.5 µm ( Fig. 1 B). The ectosomal skeleton is a tangential isotropic unispicular reticulation ( Fig. 1 C). The choanosomal skeleton is an irregular, isotropic unispicular reticulation, reinforced by ascending multispicular tracts that support the ectosome. The tracts form triangular or hexagonal meshes that delimit choanosomal spaces 150–350 µm wide. The ascending tracts are thick at the base of the sponge (60–150 µm in diameter) involving up to 16 spicules, and tapering towards the ectosome (30–50 µm in diameter). The spongin is scarce, cementing the tracts and the nodes of the isotropic reticulation ( Fig. 1 D).

Habitat: The sponge is commonly found in shallow water at 3–6 m depth, on top of and underneath rocks, and fragments of coral. The distribution is limited to Acapulco Bay. Several larvae were found in the holotype.

Etymology: The name “ reina ” comes from the type locality “El Parque de la Reina ” in the port of Acapulco.

Discussion: Cladocroce reina sp. nov constitutes the first record of the genus from the American coast. The other known shallow water species are C. aculeata , C. burapha and C. tubulosa . Besides the different geographical distribution, important morphological differences also exist between these species. C. aculeata is a tubular creamcolored sponge from the Great Barrier Reef; in contrast C. reina sp. nov is a cushion or thin-encrusting, green to sky blue sponge. The spicule measurements are similar in both species, but C. aculeata shows a great variety of strongyloid oxeas as well as oxeas with mucronate, hastate and asymmetrical tips. C. reina sp. nov has fusiform oxeas, sometimes ending in acerated tips and rarely transformed into styles. C. burapha is a white or blue tubular ramose sponge from the Gulf of Thailand. The principal difference with C. reina sp. nov., regardless of the form and color, is the thickness of the choanosomal spicule tracts; C. burapha has spicule tracts 23–59 µm wide while C. reina sp. nov has tracts 30–150 µm across. The other close species, C. tubulosa , is a yellow tubular sponge, from Mombasa ( Kenya), which differs from C.

reina sp. nov in the form, color and spicule length; the oxeas are 64–74 µm long in C. tubulosa and 130–175 µm in C. reina sp. nov. The rest of Cladocroce species were collected in deep waters, and they also have longer oxeas than C. reina sp. nov (see Table 1 ). Recently, a Cladocroce not indentified was described living on navigation buoys in Singapore ( Lim et al. 2009). This is an incrusting to massive sponge with oxeas in two categories. C. reina sp. nov. has only one category, shorter than the oxeas of the Singapore specimens (162.5– 173.5–185 µm). The only similar species in form and color to C. reina sp. nov in the Mexican Pacific coast is Haliclona turquoisia ( Laubenfels, 1954) . However, Haliclona turquoisia has a somewhat confused choanosomal skeleton, and the oxeas are clearly shorter (62.5–120 µm) than those of C. reina sp. nov ( Gomez et al. 2002).

Species Shape Color Spicules Measures (µm) Type Locality Depth (m) We are grateful to the following sources of funding: CONABIO DJ007/26 and CONACYT SEP-2009 - 102239. This work was carried out under permission of SAGARPA (Permit numbers: DGOPA.02476. 220306 .0985 and DGOPA.06648.140807.3121). We thank Clara Ramírez Jáuregui for help with the literature.

Figures

FIGURE 1 Cladocroce reina sp. nov. A) Underwater picture of the paratype. B) Electron micrographs of its spicules. C) Tangential view of ectosomal skeleton D) Cross section of choanosomal skeleton intercrossed by multispicular fiber tracts.