Dysidea etheria de Laubenfels, 1936

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 : 82

Dysidea etheria de Laubenfels, 1936

Tables 6, 7; Figs. 75A–B , 79E

Synonymy and references: Dysidea etheria de Laubenfels (1936: 28) , Gómez & Green (1986: 71), Gómez (2002: 97), Rützler et al. (2009: 304), Hajdu et al. (2011: 201), Muricy et al. (2011: 56), Rützler et al. (2014: 96), and Pérez et al. (2017: 9); Dysidea cf. etheria: van Soest (2017: 21) .

Type locality. Florida .

Material examined. CNPGG-2173, Cayo Arcas reef (20.19908°N, 91.96380°W), 10 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 25 April 2018 ; CNPGG-2199, Cayo Arcas reef (20.19566°N, 91.95997°W), 6.7 m depth, coll. Diana Ugal- de, 20 August 2018 ; CNPGG-2235, CNPGG-2236, Banco Obispo Norte reef (20.50072°N, 92.20306°W), 10 m depth, coll. Deneb Ortigosa, 13 September 2017 ; CNPGG-2417, Isla Verde reef (19.19844°N, 96.06863°W), 8 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 28 August 2018 .

Distribution. Mexico ( Green et al. 1986; Gómez 2002, 2007; Maas-Vargas 2004; De la Cruz-Francisco & Bandala-Pérez 2016; current records), Bermuda, Bahamas ( Wiedenmayer 1977), other countries in the Caribbean Sea, Guyana, Brazil ( van Soest 2017).

Remarks. Dysidea etheria is characterized by its cushion shape or erect branched morphology, conulose surface, with a particular sky-blue color, in addition to having the typical skeleton of the family, characterized by the presence of debris in its transparent fibers. Our specimens correspond to all the characters listed above.

Dysidea etheria has been reported in the northern (de Laubenfels 1936) and in the SGoM ( Green et al. 1986; Gómez 2002, 2007; De la Cruz-Francisco & Bandala-Pérez 2016). It is a common inhabitant of the coral reefs in the GoM. Further, the species is widely spread in the TNwA region.

Figures

FIGURE 75. Dysidea etheria de Laubenfels, 1936 (CNPGG-2199), skeleton and fibers: A. transversal section of the skeleton in the choanosomal reticulation; B. detail of the spongin fibers filled with sand. Scale bars: A–B = 500 µm.

FIGURE 79. In situ photographs of species analyzed in the present study: A. Erylus formosus Sollas, 1886 (CNPGG-2202); B. Cinanchyrella apion (Uliczka, 1929) (CNPGG-2189); C. Cinanchyrella kuekenthali (Uliczka, 1929) (CNPGG-2190); D. Igernella notabilis (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) (CNPGG-2234); E. Dysidea etheria de Laubenfels, 1936 (CNPGG-2199); F. Ircinia strobilina (Lamarck, 1816) (not collected) G. Ircinia strobilina (Lamarck, 1816) (CNPGG-2263); H. Hyattella cavernosa (Pallas, 1766) (CNPGG-2260); I. Spongia (S.) obscura Hyatt, 1877 (CNPGG-2177). Scale bars, A–H = 1 cm.