Haliclona (Reniera) aff. portroyalensis Jackson, de Weerdt & Webber, 2006

Ugalde, Diana, Fernandez, Julio C. C., Gómez, Patricia, Lôbo-Hajdu, Gisele & Simões, Nuno, 2021, An update on the diversity of marine sponges in the southern Gulf of Mexico coral reefs, Zootaxa 5031 (1), pp. 1-112 : 36-37

Haliclona (Reniera) aff. portroyalensis Jackson, de Weerdt & Webber, 2006

Tables 6, 7; Figs. 28A–F

Synonymy and references: Haliclona (Reniera) portroyalensis Jackson et al. (2006: 62) and Bispo et al. (2016: 241); Haliclona (Reniera) aff. portroyalensis : present study.

Type locality. Jamaica .

Material examined. CNPGG-2444, Isla Verde reef (19.20588°N, - 96.07305°W), 7.8 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 31 August 2018 .

Description. Thickly encrusting habit; size 2–4.7 × 0.9 cm. Surface smooth, provided with scattered oscules ca. 2 mm diameter, without visible pores. The color in vivo was not recorded, light beige in ethanol. Consistency is soft and flexible.

Skeleton. The ectosomal skeleton is a unispicular isotropic reticulation tending to isodictyal ( Fig. 28A ). Choanosomal skeleton is similar to the ectosomal one, with a unispicular network, but some tracts are 2-3 spicules thick ( Fig. 28B ). Toxas are more abundant in the ectosomal region ( Fig. 28E ).

Spicules. Megascleres: Oxeas slightly curved, smooth, in a large size range; juvenile forms are thinner ( Fig. 28C–D ). Tips sharp, conic to acerate; 140– 181 (17.3)–200/5– 9.2 (1.7)–10 µm. Microscleres ( Fig.28 E–F ): toxas smooth; 24– 52.8 (16.4)–70 × 0.5–1.5 µm.

Distribution. Mexico (current records), Jamaica ( Jackson et al. 2006).

Remarks. This study presents the first record of Haliclona (R.) portroyalensis after its original description and the first record for the GoM. Our material has slightly smaller and thicker oxeas (140–200/5–10 µm) and smaller toxas (24–70/0.5–1.5 µm) compared with the type material described by Jackson et al. (2006): viz., spicules in the latter, oxeas 153–209.7/6–8.7 µm and toxas 3.6–112.5/0.3–1.5 µm. Furthermore, our material is encrusting and with few apertures visible, as long as Jackson et al. (2006) describe a digitate specimen with a few slightly swollen areas and a bulbous basis and oscules scattered on the surface. Although some differences are observed between our material and the description in Jackson et al. (2006), we have only a small specimen examined. A new analysis of specimens from the Gulf population of H. (R.) portroyalensis is needed to clarify if the characters observed by us represent morphological variation or point to a new species. Thus, the present identification is just tentative.

Subgenus Haliclona (Soestella) de Weerdt, 2000

Figures

FIGURE 28. Haliclona (Reniera) aff. portroyalensis Jackson, de Weerdt & Webber, 2006 (CNPGG-2477), skeleton and spicules: A. tangential section of the skeleton of the ectosomal region; B. transversal section of the skeleton of the choanosomal region; C. oxeas, 1— juvenile forms raphides-like oxeas and 2—toxa; D. oxeas in detail; E. toxas in ectosomal region; F. toxas in detail. Scale bars: A–B = 100 µm; C–F = 25 µm.