Sarcotragus spinosulus (Schmidt, 1862)

Manconi, Renata, Cadeddu, Barbara, Ledda, Fabio & Pronzato, Roberto, 2013, An overview of the Mediterranean cave-dwelling horny sponges (Porifera, Demospongiae), ZooKeys 281, pp. 1-68 : 30

Sarcotragus spinosulus (Schmidt, 1862) Fig. 23

Sarcotragus spinosulus Schmidt, 1862: 35.

Description.

Growth form regular, massive, rarely exceeding 10 cm in diameter. Colour black or dark grey in vivo. Consistency strong, relatively elastic. Surface finely conulose (1-2 mm in height and 2-3 mm apart). Oscules (up to 1 cm in diameter) irregularly scattered. Skeleton network reticulation of ascending primary fibres (90-180 µm in diameter) with a fibrous narrow core free of inclusions or bearing only rare spicules. Secondary fibres (50-100 µm in diameter) uncored and laminated. Filaments (0.7-2.0 µm in diameter) very abundant giving a strong consistency.

Habitat.

Cave, rocky, detritic and muddy bottom, coralligenous community, lagoon, Posidonia oceanica meadow, epibiotic on Pinna nobilis . Bathymetric range 1-60 m.

Mediterranean caves.

Blava, La Catedral, Meda Petita, Petita de la Vaca caves (Balearic Sea); Bear, Troc, Endoume caves (Gulf of Lions); Isolotto, Mago, Tuffo Tuffo caves (Central Tyrrhenian Sea); Porto Cesareo Cave (Ionian Sea); Croatian, Stražica caves (Northern Adriatic Sea); Viole, Bue Marino, Piccolo Ciolo, Marinella, Principessa caves (Southern Adriatic Sea); Ftelio Cave (Aegean Sea) ( Rützler 1966; Boury-Esnault 1971; Pouliquen 1972; Pulitzer-Finali and Pronzato 1976, 1980; Pansini et al. 1977; Pulitzer-Finali 1977; Bibiloni et al. 1984a, 1989; Corriero et al. 2000, 2004; Bussotti et al. 2006; Novosel et al. 2002; Turon et al. 2009; Pronzato and Manconi 2011; Bakran-Petricioli et al. 2012; Gerovasileiou and Voultsiadou 2012).