(Montagu, 1818)

Species Overview

Phorbas plumosus (Montagu, 1818) is a massively encrusting orange with an irregular, somewhat tuberculate surface. It differs from the related and sympatric P. fictitius by the small indistinct pore-fields (against the very clear areolae in fictitius). It is a common shallow water species on most rocky coasts of Europe.

Taxonomic Description

Colour: Variable: orange to dirty violet-brown, scarlet.
Shape, size, surface and consistency: (Phorbas plumosus IV) Massive crust to thin cushion, typically 5 mm to 1 cm thick, spreading in patches of typically ca. 6 cm in diameter. It may become massive-lobose in sheltered locations. Surface more or less smooth or somewhat tuberculate (which are in fact raised small pore-fields, but do not appear so with the naked eye), with transparent tissue between the tubercles. Oscules small, scattered, numerous and obvious; they may be in groups. Excurrent channels are visible. Consistency somewhat crumbly, compressible and fairly resilient. Contraction slight (there is a tendency to 'curl up' on removal from the water). A strong smell, variously described as like iodine or 'garlic on breath'.
Spicules: (Phorbas plumosus spics) Megascleres: The ectosomal tornotes have oxeote ends: 140-185 x 6-7 µm; the spicules of the main skeleton are large acanthostyles: 180-240 x 8-9 µm, sparsely spined and echinating smaller acanthostyles: 80-140 µm, which are densely and entirely spined.
Microscleres are arcuate isochelae of distinctive shape, small and fine: ca. 15-20 µm.
Skeleton: A plumose skeleton of ascending multispicular fibres of acanthostyles, echinated by smaller acanthostyles. There is a well developed ectosomal skeleton of tornotes arranged in vertical brushes. Spongin is scarce.
Ecology: Typically found in shallow water—the kelp zone, especially in highly exposed sites, and in 'rapids' situations on upper surfaces of rocks. It may also occur in semi-sheltered situations with moderate current. Littoral to 680 m. Common.
Distribution: Faroes, Norway, British lsles, Atlantic coasts of France and Spain, Portugal.
Etymology: The name refers to the plumose skeletal arrangement.
Type specimen information: Several unregistered slides from Montagu type (Bk 944, 945 and 452). Johnston's specimen in the Natural History Museum, BMNH 1930: 7: 3: 8: 484, may be the same as Montagu's. MCS voucher BELUM Mc525, Saltee Islands, Wexford, SE Ireland.

Remarks

The smell and appearance are fairly characteristic, but there are several other species of Phorbas whose living characters are not known. The choanosomal spicule tracts without tornotes and the spicule complement with only one size of chela and no sigmas is characteristic of P. plumosus.
Source: Ackers et al., 1992 (editors B.E. Picton, S.M. Stone, (D. Moss).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera
Class Demospongiae
Order Poecilosclerida
Suborder Myxillina
Family Hymedesmiidae
Genus Phorbas
Species Phorbas plumosus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Phorbas plumosus (Montagu, 1818)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Spongia plumosa n.sp. Montagu, 1818: 116.
Halichondria plumosa: Johnston, 1842: 103.
Pronax plumosa: Gray, 1867: 536; Van Soest and Weinberg, 1980: 10; Van Soest et al., 1981: 42.
Microciona carnosa n.sp. Bowerbank, 1866: 133.
Hymeniacidon plumosa: Bowerbank, 1866: 195.
Microciona plumosa: Bowerbank, 1874: 61, pl. XXIV figs. 7-13.Parfitt, 1868: 15.
Plumohalichondria plumosa: Carter, 1885: 355; Higgin, 1886: 78; Topsent, 1894: 8; Arnesen, 1903: 19, pl. III fig. 1, pl. V fig. 2, pl. VI fig.1;
Myxilla irregularis: Topsent, 1894: 8.
Stylostichon plumosum: Stephens, 1912: 26; Stephens, 1920: 47; Arndt, 1935: 80, fig. 166; Burton, 1957: 34; Bruce et al., 1963: 47; Borojevic et al., 1968: 23; Könnecker, 1973: 458; Durán and Solórzano, 1982: 52; Ackers et al., 1985: 159, figs. 69-70; 1992: 135, fig. 69.
Pronaxella plumosa: Burton, 1931: 168.
Pronax plumosum: Descatoire, 1969a: 196.
Phorbas plumosus: Voultsiadou-Koukoura and Van Soest, 1991a.

Arndt (1935) gives the following additional synonyms:
Dendoryx irregularis
Desmacidon plumosum
Halichondria irregularis

Ackers, R.G., D. Moss, B.E. Picton and S.M.K. Stone, 1985. Sponges of the British Isles ("Sponge IV"). II. Marine Conservation Soc., Ross on Wye, U.K.: 108-197.

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.

Arnesen, E., 1903. Spongien von der norwegischen Küste, Monaxonida: Halichondrina. Bergens Mus. Årbok, 1903 (1): 1-30, pls. I-VII.

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

Bowerbank, J.S., 1866. A monograph of the British Spongiadae, II. Ray Society, London: i-xx, 1-388.

Bowerbank, J.S., 1874. A monograph of the British Spongiadae, III. Ray Society, London: i-xvii, 1-367, pls. I-XCII.

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.

Carter, H.J., 1885. Descriptions of sponges from the neighbourhood of Port Phillip Heads, South Australia. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (5) 16: 277-294, 347-368.

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

Durán, C. and M.R. Solórzano, 1982: Aportaciones al conocimiento del macrozoobentos de la zona infralitoral rocosa de Galicia mediante la utilizacion de la escafandra autonoma: I. Demosponjas. Trab. Compostelanos Biol., 9: 49-67.

Gray, J.E., 1867. Notes on the arrangement of sponges, with the description of some new genera. Proc. zool. Soc. London, 1867: 492-558, 2 pls.

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

Johnston, G., 1842. A history of British sponges and Lithophytes. Lizars, Edinburgh: 1-264, 25 pls.

Könnecker, G., 1973. Littoral and benthic investigations on the west coast of Ireland-I. (Section A: Faunistic and ecological studies). The sponge fauna of Kilkieran Bay and adjacent waters. Proc. roy. Irish Acad., 73 (B): 451-472.

Montagu, G., 1818. An essay on sponges, with descriptions of all the species that have been discovered on the coast of Great Britain. Mem. Werner nat. Hist. Soc., 2 (1): 67-122, pls. III-XVI.

Parfitt, E., 1868. On the marine and freshwater sponges of Devonshire. Trans. Devonshire Ass. Advancement Sci. Lit. Art, 1868: 9-12 (452-454).

Soest, R.W.M. van, and S. Weinberg, 1980. A note on the sponges and octocorals from Sherkin Island and Lough Ine, Co. Cork. Irish Nat. J., 20: 1-15.

Soest, R.W.M. van, J.D. Guiterman and M. Sayer, 1981. Sponges from Roaringwater Bay and Lough Ine. J. Sherkin Isl., 1 (2): 35-49.

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

Stephens, J., 1921. Sponges of the coast of Ireland. II.-The Tetraxonida (Concluded). Fisheries Ireland, Sci. Investigations, 1920, II [1921]: 1-75.

Topsent, E., 1894b. Étude sur la faune des spongiaires du Pas-de-Calais, suivie d'une application de la nomenclature actuelle à la monographie de Bowerbank. Rev. Biol. Nord France, 7: 6-29.

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