Pseudosuberites hyalinus

(Ridley and Dendy, 1887)

Species Overview

Pseudosuberites hyalinus (Ridley and Dendy, 1887) is a smooth cushion-shaped sponge with transparent surface. It is soft and spongy. Live colour has not been recorded. It is a deeper water species.

Taxonomic Description

Colour: Pale yellowish grey (in alcohol).
Shape, size, surface and consistency: Massive, amorphous, with a transparent appearance. Size about 2-10 cm in diameter and thicknes. Surface often encrusted by other organisms. Consistency spongy, soft.
Spicules: (Pseudosuberites hyalinus spics) Tylostyles only, smooth, nearly straight, with distinct but not very large subglobular heads, sharply and gradually pointed, quite variable in size, but no categories are discernible: up to 1100 x 25 µm.
Skeleton: As is usual for the genus the ectosomal skeleton is a detachable, tangential feltwork of tylostyles; choanosomal skeleton diffuse and extremely irregular, with some vague bundles running to the surface; many loose spicules.
Ecology: Recorded from 80 m depth.
Distribution: Sweden, Norway; elsewhere from Patagonia, Mediterranean.
Etymology: The surface is transparent.
Type specimen information: The type is in the Natural History Museum: BMNH 1887.5.2.41 (wet).

Remarks

Through the transparent surface this is an easily recognizable species. It was originally described from Patagonia and subsequently reported from Europe. It remains to be confirmed that all these records concern the same species.
Source: Ridley and Dendy (1887).