Abyssocladia marianensis
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Porifera
- Class: Demospongiae
- Order: Poecilosclerida
- Family: Cladorhizidae
- Genus: Abyssocladia
- Species: Abyssocladia marianensis
Description
Abyssocladia marianensis is a carnivorous sponge species within the family Cladorhizidae, first described in 2019. It was discovered in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 5813 meters, where it attaches to hard substrates via a small basal plate.[2]
Visual Description
Abyssocladia marianensis exhibits a distinct stalked morphology, featuring a long, rigid, and flexible stem that supports an apical, umbrella-shaped body. The body is slightly pointed at the apex. A horizontal crown of approximately 50 filaments extends from the body margin; these filaments initially curve downward before bending upward at their distal ends. The fleshy apical region of the body is noted to contain numerous visible embryos.[2] Observations of preserved specimens in the TreeOfLife-200M dataset confirm this characteristic stalked form and the umbrella-like arrangement of the body and filaments.[1]
Skeletal Structure and Spicules
The skeletal framework of the stem is composed of tightly packed, slightly counter-clockwise twisted mycalostyles. The umbrella-shaped body is supported by radiating bundles of mycalostyles, which also form the internal skeleton of the filaments. Oxeas are associated with the fleshy apical region.[2]
Spicule measurements include:
- Mycalostyles: Straight, fusiform, and very slightly tylote, 1824–2458 µm long and 19.7–39.0 µm wide.
- Oxeas: Straight, fusiform, 289–477 µm long and 4.1–7.2 µm wide.
- Microscleres: Include arcuate isochelae (65–95 µm and 24–45 µm) and sigmancistras (50–65 µm and 30–50 µm).[2]
Gallery
References
- 1 2 Dataset view for Animalia / Porifera / Demospongiae / Poecilosclerida / Cladorhizidae / Abyssocladia / marianensis constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.
- 1 2 3 4 Jon Thomassen Hestetun; Hans Tore Rapp; Shirley A. Pomponi. Deep-Sea Carnivorous Sponges From the Mariana Islands. Frontiers in Marine Science. 2019. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00371.