Acanthella Schmidt, 1862 New shallow-water sponges (Porifera) from the Galápagos Islands Sim-Smith, Carina Hickman, Cleveland Kelly, Michelle Zootaxa 2021 2021-08-02 5012 1 1 71 84K5M Van Soest, Diaz & Pomponi, 1990 Van Soest, Diaz & Pomponi 1990 [247,851,1361,1387] Demospongiae Dictyonellidae Animalia Bubarida 33 34 Porifera family   Genus  Acanthella Schmidt, 1862   Diagnosis.Erect, bushy, ramose, lamellate or lobate habit. Surface generally coarsely conulose with protruding choanosomal spicules. Ectosome membranous, glistening in appearance, without specialised skeleton. Consistency cartilaginous-like when alive. Choanosomal skeleton with thick tracts or axes of interwoven strongyles or strongyloxeas, sometimes condensed in the axial region, dendritically branching toward the periphery and ending in conules at the surface; reduced to single spicules in some thinly branching forms. Megascleres doubly flexed and sinuously curved strongyles, sometimes strongyloxeas, always coring main spicule tracts; straight styles, oxeas or anisoxeas in any combination, echinating main tracts; microscleres absent (from Van Soest et al. 2002).