Spongia nitens (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 : 33-34

Spongia nitens (Schmidt, 1862) Fig. 27

Ditela nitens Schmidt, 1862: 24, 1864.

Description.

Growth form irregularly lobate, rarely larger than 15-20 cm. Oscules (2 mm in diameter) on each lobe, with evident very long converging exhalant canals. Consistency soft and strong. Colour whitish to light brown. Conules small and regular. Primary fibres (40-60 µm in diameter) sometimes showing a fibrous opaque core, avoiding inclusion or with rare spicule fragments. Secondary fibres (20-35 µm in thickness) connecting primary ones in a regular network; a second superficial network is formed by thinner (4-10 µm) fibres. Skeleton extremely soft. The specific name refers to the silky sponge’s surface with an external membrane smooth and translucent.

Habitat.

Cave, coralligenous community. Bathymetric range 0-15 m.

Mediterranean caves.

Falco*, Bisbe* caves (Sardinian Sea); Endoume, Figuiers caves (Gulf of Lions); Leuca caves (Ionian Sea); Croatian caves (Northern Adriatic Sea); Farà, Agios Vasilios caves (Aegean Sea)( Sarà 1968; Pouliquen 1972; Pronzato and Manconi 2011; Bakran-Petricioli et al. 2012; Cadeddu 2012; Gerovasileiou and Voultsiadou 2012).