T A N E ( 1 9 6 6 ) 12 : 5 7 - 6 1 5 7

A KEY TO THE RECOGNITION OF INTERTIDAL SPONGES COMMONLY FOUND IN THE AUCKLAND AREA

by Janfrie J . Hogg

Sponges are one of the most colourful and attractive groups of animals encountered on the shore. In spite of this, they are often overlooked since they usually occur in inaccessible positions, favouring shaded localities such as in rock caves or under rock ledges .

There are a great variety of sponges in the Auckland area, the bulk of which are to be found in low tidal positions. Black Reef at Westmere supports a rich sponge fauna, and at the more northern beaches of Narrow Neck, Takapuna, Milford, etc. , sponges are common. In fact, in localit ies where there are numerous rocky outcrops, a large variety of sponges i s most likely to be found.

This key i s designed to indicate those sponges most commonly encountered intertidally around Auckland, and readily observable character­ist ics , e.g., odour, surface, texture, have been employed as fundamental criteria. The key thus pays special attention to characters useful in rapid field identification, and systematic technicalities have been avoided.

1. Structure massive, spongy or branching; colour variable; surface conulose; spongin abundant; spicules absent

1. Structure massive, fleshy, spongy, encrusting or branching; colour variable; spicules s i l iceous

2. Colour cream to purple with conspicuous reddish fibre tracery; much debris incorporated into the spongin skeleton Dysidea fragilis

2. Colour brown to black; some debris in skeleton 3. 3. Colour brown to black externally, grey-white

internally; surface conulose and shiny; texture elastic and extremely tough; not easily torn apart; evil smelling

3. Colour brown to black externally, grey-white internally; surface l e s s conulose and shiny; texture elastic but relatively easily torn; no foul odour

4. Sponges boring into, and sometimes overgrowing shells and other calcareous material; colour brilliant yellow to orange-red Cliona 5.

4. Sponges not boring; colour and form various 6.

5. Colour brilliant sulphur yellow; boring into calcareous substrate, or free living Cliona celata

5. Sponge always boring into calcareous material, never massive; orange-red Cliona vastifica

6. Non-boring sponges; red-orange 7. 6. Non-boring sponges; black through yellow 14.

... Ircinia fasciculata

... Spongia reticulata

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7. Red sponges; thinly encrusting to thick massive forms

7. Orange sponges 8. Thinly encrusting red sponges; ubiquitous on

shore profile (see footnote) 8. Red-orange — orange-pink; irregularly folded

sponge with wrinkled surface; massive; confined to Hauraki Gulf

9. Orange; massive forms 9. Orange; encrusting forms

10. Orange forms bearing surface projections 10. Orange forms without surface projections 11. Wrinkled to "peaked" surface; papillose

projections (absent from massive compacted form and translucent, encrusting type); ramifying habit; often associated with Corallina officinalis

11. Surface and projections smooth; compact t issue, divided into two distinct regions — outer cortex and inner endosome. (Projections reduced in exposed localities, e.g. West Coast

12. Lobed, palmate, smooth surface; deep orange-red colouration Suberites cupuloides

12. Spherical; surface knobbled or warty; patterned like golf ball Tethya aurantium

13. Thinly encrusting (.9 - 1.2 mm.); smooth surface

13. Thinly encrusting (.8 - .9 mm.); surface — reticulate pattern due to anastomosis of sub-dermal canals

8. 9.

Microciona coccinea

Halichondria moorei

10. 13.

11. 12.

Hymeniacidon perleve

Polymastia granulosa

Suberites axinelloides

Time a aurantiaca

15. 19.

14. White-yellowish sponges 14. Purple-black sponges 15. White-yellowish sponges; surface smooth 16. 15. White-yellowish sponges; surface punctate 18. 16. Brilliantly white; smooth surface; crisp

texture Corticellopsis novae zelandiae 16. Cream to yellow-orange; even texture; surface

often raised into protuberances 17. 17. Small pale yellow sponge; bears slender

tough protuberances which penetrate sand and mud; smooth surface

17. Varying from massive, compacted form to thinly encrusting; numerous low tubules each terminating in an oscule; colour variable — yellow-green; (spiculation — atypical, oxeas and styles)

18. Surface punctate with large and prominent oscular chimneys; mucous exuded when detached from substrate; creamish-white

Ciocalypta polymastia

Halichondria panicea

Adocia parietaloides

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18.

19. 19. 20.

20.

Encrusting sponge; surface resembles inflorescence of cauliflower; no surface projections; cream to yel low (sometimes orange)

Purple sponges Black sponges Soft texture; prominent oscular chimneys project from surface; no dermal membrane; ramifying habit; colour dense purple to grey-cream, may even be green Firm texture; oscular chimneys present, though not as prominent; dermal membrane; purple - pinkish purple

21. Brown - black sponges 21. Black sponges 22. Hispid; faintly mammillate surface;

characteristic speckled, spangled appear­ance due to the hispid nature of surface; black-brown speckled

22. Somewhat spherical sponge often occurring in "nests"; external colour rose-pink to dark brown; internal yellowish to brown; surface whipped up into small "peaks" ...

23. Black exterior with yellow interior; globular spreading masses

23. Black exterior with grey-white interior; surface sometimes hispid

Plakina monolopha

19. 20.

Haliclona heterofibrosa

... Adocia venustina

22. 23.

Raspailia agminata

. .. Aaptos aaptos

. ... Aaptos spp.

Ancorina alata

FOOTNOTE. I. Although Microciona coccinea i s the most common encrusting red sponge within the Auckland area, two others are encountered quite fre­quently. The three are virtually impossible to separate without a spicule mount. This, therefore, i s the only means by which Microciona, Holoplocamia and Ophlitaspongia, may be distinguished with certainty.

SPICULE ASSEMBLAGES: 1. Microciona coccinea.

Megascleres: a.

Microscleres:

2. Holoplocamia neo zelanicum. Megascleres: a.

Large, stout, basally spined styles, curved in anterior third.

Acanthotylotes - stout, very slightly curved, covered with short even spines over the tylote ends.

b. Stout, evenly spined, straight acanthostyles.

c. Slender, straight subtylostyles, with a few terminal inconspicuous spines.

a. Palmate isochelae. b. Toxas.

6 0

Microscleres:

3. Ophlitaspongia seriata. Megascleres:

Microscleres:

b. Stout, subtylote styles, smooth, evenly curved.

c. Fine subtylostyles - faintly microspined terminally.

a. Abundant, fine toxas. b. Palmate isochelae.

a. Subtylostyles of two s i zes . b. Oxeas may be present. a. Toxas of several s i ze s .

n. Callyspongia ramosa not mentioned in the key i s relatively abundant in the Auckland intertidal — however only as a dead specimen. Callyspongia in life i s purple and branching, and occurs in offshore waters. It is commonly washed up on beaches, where it appears as a dried, spongose body.

CONULOSE:

HISPID:

MAMILLATE:

OSCULES:

PALMATE: PAPILLATE:

SPONGIN:

Phylum: Class: Subclass 1. Order:

Order:

Order:

GLOSSARY

a term used in association with the sponge surface to describe its raised, cone-like nature. bristly; rough, due to the projection of spicules above the sponge surface. a term used in association with the sponge surface to describe its irregularly rounded nature. excurrent apertures opening on sponge surface — often elevated, hence, 'oscular chimneys'. lobed, shaped like the palm of a hand. a term used in association with the sponge surface to describe its 'warty', 'pimply' irregular nature. a sceleroprotein, fibres of which together with spicules make up the sponge skeleton. (Bath sponges and related genera lack spicules and the skeleton i s entirely composed of a reticulations of spongin fibres.

CLASSIFICATION

Porifera. Demospongiae. Tetractinomorpha. Homosclerophorida.

Choristida.

Epipolasida.

Plakina monolopha. Corticellopsis novae zelandiae.

Ancorina alata.

Tethya aurantium.

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Order: Hadromerida.

Order: Axinellida.

Subclass 2: Ceractinomorpha. Order: Halichondria.

Order: Poecilosclerida.

Order: Haplosclerida.

Order: Dictyoceratida .

Polymastia granulosa. Suberites spp. Aaptos aaptos. Cliona spp. Time a aurantiaca.

Raspailia agminata.

Halichondria spp. Hymeniacidon perleve. Ciocalypta polymastia.

Microciona coccinea. Ophlitaspongia seriata. Holoplocamia neo zelanicum. Adocia spp.

Haliclona spp. Callyspongia ramosa.

Dysidea fragilis. Ircinia fasciculata. Spongia reticulata.

N.B. Keratosa = Dictyoceratida + Dendroceratida.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I should like to thank Dr. P.R. Bergquist for her valuable advice, and for the innumerable identifications of specimens collected.

REFERENCES

Bergquist, P.R. 1961 A Collection of Porifera from Northern New Zealand with Descriptions of Seventeen New Species. Pac. Sci. Vol. XV No. 1 Jan. 1961.

Bergquist, P.R. 1962 Demospongiae of New Zealand. Systematics, Distribution and Relationships. Vols. 1 & 2. Ph.D. Thes is . Auckland University.