Ponderous horny sponge (Stryphnus ponderosus)

Distribution data supplied by the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS). To interrogate UK data visit the NBN Atlas.Map Help

Summary

Description

A large, lobed, encrusting sponge, reaching up to 40 cm in diameter. It is pale greyish to brown in colour on the surface, and ochre in the interior. It is occasionally cupped or goblet-shaped and often features a central ‘orange-sized’, hole in larger specimens. Upon cutting, it reveals a thin, harder exterior and a pale interior. This sponge is frequently inconspicuous, blending in with surrounding sponges and bryozoans, such as a type of colonial sea anemone, Parazoanthus anguicomus. The free surface is limited because of encrusting species but is smooth or rough with bristles (hispid). Small oscules in groups of 3 to 8, up to 1 mm in size, normally flush with the surface, are occasionally present on free surfaces. It does not produce slime. 

Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland

Recorded in the English Channel, and the west coast of England. Sparse records in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and south and west Ireland. Absent from the east coast of the UK.

Global distribution

A temperature to polar species recorded on the west coasts of Britain and Ireland, around the Channel Islands and near the coast of northern France. Recorded in the northern Norwegian Sea and into the Greenland Sea, off the coast of northern Svalbard. Scattered records in the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea in the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean off the coast of eastern South Africa.

Habitat

Found on vertical walls, overhangs and caves, usually out of the light, with some tidal surge.

Depth range

0- 100 m (possibly up to 700 m)

Identifying features

  • Not very firm or compressible
  • Pale greyish brown colour
  • Massive sponge with rough surface

Additional information

It may be confused with Stelletta grubii but this has a clearly thicker cortex. Both are easily distinguished upon microscopic examination of spicules (Picton et al., 2011; Van Soest et al., 2024). 

Listed by

- none -

Further information sources

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Bibliography

  1. Ackers, R.G.A., Moss, D. & Picton, B.E. 1992. Sponges of the British Isles (Sponges: V): a colour guide and working document. Ross-on-Wye: Marine Conservation Society.

  2. Hayward, P.J. & Ryland, J.S. (ed.) 2017. Handbook of the marine fauna of North-West Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  3. Picton, B.E., Morrow, C.C. & van Soest, R.W.B., 2007. [In] Sponges of Britain and Ireland: http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/sponge_guide/sponges.asp?item=C2134

  4. Van Soest, R.W.M., Picton, B. & Morrow, C., 2024. Sponges of the North East Atlantic, 2.0. Leiden, Netherlands: Linnaeus NG - Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Accessed [2024-10-04]. Available from https://sponges-ne-atlantic.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/introduction/topic.php?id=3392&epi=168  

Datasets

  1. NBN (National Biodiversity Network) Atlas. Available from: https://www.nbnatlas.org.

  2. OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System),  2024. Global map of species distribution using gridded data. Available from: Ocean Biogeographic Information System. www.iobis.org. Accessed: 2024-11-23

Citation

This review can be cited as:

Maleed, M., 2024. Stryphnus ponderosus Ponderous horny sponge. In Tyler-Walters H. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Reviews, [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 23-11-2024]. Available from: https://marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/2368

Last Updated: 04/10/2024