Carter, 1871a

Species Overview

Leuconia johnstoni Carter (1871a) is a whitish mass of flask-shaped lobes with a common encrusting base. It has the firm, slightly rough and incompressible aspect of most calcareous sponges. It may be distinguished from Leucandra gossei and Leuconia nivea by its rough surface and by details of the spicules. It occurs on the west coasts of the British Isles, France and Spain.

Taxonomic Description

Colour: White, beige.
Shape, size, surface and consistency: Normally consists of groups of flask-shaped lobes, with terminal oscules, resembling a cluster of Sycon sp., but with a common basal crust. Surface even, roughish but non-hispid. Oscules at tips of lobes, with fringe of short, even spicules. Consistency firm.
Spicules: (Leuconia johnstoni spics) Calcareous. Ectosomal triactines with rays: 200-300 x 15-20 µm. Triactines of chamber layer with rays: 100-1000 x 10-70 µm.
Large ectosomal tetractines: ca. 650 x 80 µm; sagittal tetractines of two types: 1) 30-40 µm (paired rays), 60 µm (basal and apical) x 8 µm (chamber layer); and 2) 250 x 6 µm (associated with microxeas in ectosome). Choanosomal tetractines with rays: 200-300 µm.
Microxeas: ca. 60-80 x 5 µm.
Skeleton: The ectosome has a tangential layer of triactines and the facial rays of large tetractines, with groups of microxeas and tetractines. The choanosomal skeleton consists of small tetractines. The skeleton of the chamber layer consists of scattered triactines and small tetractines.
Reproduction: Oocytes in July-August (Dubosq and Tuzet, 1942).
Ecology: Vertical surfaces of rock and wrecks in sheltered conditions, even with moderate tidal streams.
Distribution: British Isles (? extending to N. of Scotland, E coast of UK?). Channel coasts of France; Spain.
Etymology: Named after Dr George Johnston, author of an early (1842) monograph on the "British Sponges and Lithophytes".
Type specimen information: BMNH 1847.9.7.74 (dry), Johnston Collection (as Leucandra), BMNH 1897.2.26.1 (dry + slide). MCS voucher BELUM: Mc1843. Strangford Lough, N Ireland.

Remarks

It can be confused with Leucandra gossei and Leuconia nivea. The presence of sagittal tetractines in the choanosomal layer, with large tetractines in the ectosome is diagnostic.
Source: Ackers et al., 1992.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera
Class Calcarea
Subclass Calcaronea
Order Baerida
Family Baeriidae
Genus Leuconia
Species Leuconia johnstoni

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Leuconia johnstoni Carter, 1871

Scientific synonyms and common names

Leuconia johnstonii n.sp. Carter, 1871a: 3, pl. I figs. 5-12; Bowerbank, 1882: 229.
Leucandra johnstonii: Haeckel, 1870: 216, pl. XXXIV fig. 1; Higgin, 1886: 90; Topsent, 1891a: 526; Moore, 1937: 33; Topsent, 1937: 11.
Leuconia johnstoni: Topsent, 1891b: 128; Stephens, 1912: 12; Dendy and Row, 1913: 773; Farran, 1915: 10; Ferrer-Hernandez, 1918: 16; Prenant, 1927: 6; Breitfuss, 1927: 30; Lévi, 1950b: 5; Burton, 1957: 27; Burton, 1963: 266, fig. 130; Bruce et al., 1963: 43; Borojevic et al., 1968: 35; Descatoire, 1969a: 180; Ackers et al., 1992: 57, fig. 166.
Leucandra johnstoni: Burton, 1932: 167; Arndt, 1935: 19, fig. 25

Burton (1963) considers this as one of a number of "Named Forms" grouped under Leuconia barbata, the name he considered valid for the whole complex.

Ackers, R.G.A., D. Moss and B.E. Picton, 1992. Sponges of the British Isles ("Sponge V"), a colour guide and working document. Marine Conservation Society, 175 pp.

Arndt, W., 1935. Porifera. Tierwelt Nord.-Ostsee, IIIa: 1-140, figs. 1-239.

Borojevic, R., L. Cabioch and C. Lévi, 1968. Spongiaires. Inventaire Faune Marine de Roscoff. 44 pp.

Bowerbank, J.S., 1882. A monograph of the British Spongiadae, IV. Ray Society, London. xvii, 250 pp., 17 pls.

Breitfuss, L., 1927. Die Kalkschwammfauna der Nord-und Ostsee. Zool. Anz., 70: 26-36

Bruce, J.R., J.S. Colman and N.S. Jones, 1963. Marine fauna of the Isle of Man and its surrounding seas. L.M.B.C. Memoirs, 36. 307 pp. (sponges: 42-47).

Burton, M., 1931 [1932]. The Porifera of the Isle of Man. Lancashire Sea Fisheries Lab. Rept., 1931: 167-169.

Burton, M., 1957. Plymouth Marine Fauna. 3rd ed. Porifera. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K.: 26-36.

Burton, M., 1963. A revision of the classification of the calcareous sponges. British Museum (Natural History), London. 693 pp.

Carter, H.J., 1871a. A description of two new Calcispongiae (Trichogypsia, Leuconia). Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (4) 8: 1-28.

Dendy, A. and H. Row, 1913. The classification and phylogeny of the calcareous sponges, with a reference list of all the described species, systematically arranged. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 53: 704-813.

Descatoire, A., 1969a. Peuplements sessiles de l' Archipel de Glénan. I. Inventaire: Spongiaires. Vie Milieu, (B) 20(1,B): 177-210.

Dubosq, O. and O. Tuzet, 1942. Recherches complémentaires sur l'ovogenèse, la fécondation et les premiers stades du développement des Éponges calcaires. Arch. Zool. exp. gén., 81: 395-466.

Farran, G.P., 1915. Results of a biological survey of Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo. Dept. Agric. Techn. Instr. Ireland, Fisheries. 72 pp., 1 pl.

Ferrer-Hernandez, F. 1918. Esponjas del litoral de Asturias. Trab. Mus. nac. Cienc. Madrid (Zool.), 36: 1-39.

Haeckel, E., 1870 (1872). Die Kalkschwämme, eine Monographie. 3 vols. Reimer, Berlin.

Higgin, T., 1886. Report on the Porifera of the L.M.B.C. District. 1st. Rept.Fauna Liverpool Bay: 72-94.

Lévi, C., 1950b. Inventaire de la faune de Roscoff. Spongiaires. Trav. Stat. biol. Roscoff, n.s. 1 (suppl. 2): 1-28.

Moore, H.B., 1937. Marine fauna of the Isle of Man. Proc. Liverpool Biol. Soc., 50: 32-37

Prenant, M., 1927. Notes éthologiques sur la faune marine sessile des environs de Roscoff. II. Spongiaires, Tuniciers, Anthozoaires. Associations de la faune fixée. Trav. Stat. biol. Roscoff, 6: 1-58.

Stephens, J., 1912. Marine Porifera of the Clare Island Survey. Proc. roy. Irish Acad., 31 (59): 1-41.

Topsent, E., 1891a. Essai sur la faune de spongiaires de Roscoff. Arch. Zool. expér. gén., (2) 9: 523-554.

Topsent, E., 1891b. Spongiaires des côtes océaniques de France. Bull. Soc. zool. France, 16: 125-129.

Topsent, E., 1937. Sur les Leucandra des côtes de France. Bull. Inst. Océanogr., Monaco, 728: 1-15.

You can continue searching for Leuconia johnstoni on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia