Hancock, 1849

Species Overview

Cliona lobata Hancock (1849) is a yellow excavating sponge boring exclusively in shells. It differs from C. celata which may occur in the same shells in the much smaller and more numerous papillae and the thinner galleries. In contrast to C. celata it has always microscleres (microscopic examination necessary). Pione vastifica is similar in papillae size but differs in being orange-red. C. lobata occurs sympatrically with C. celata over much of its range, although it is more common in northern waters. It is less frequently reported than C. celata.

Taxonomic Description

Colour: Papillae pale yellow, interiorly golden yellow.
Shape, size, surface and consistency: Excavating sponge making thin branching galleries in mollusc shells, notably Mytilus, Ostrea, Buccinum, Cardium and Mactra. Papillae small and numerous. Inhalant papillae 0.2-0.5 mm in diameter, exhalant papillae up to 1.6 mm in diameter. Galleries are less than 1.5 mm in diameter. Consistency soft.
Spicules: (Cliona lobata spics) Tylostyles and spirasters. Megascleres: Tylostyles slightly fusiform with a sharp point: 155-400 x 1-4 µm.
Microscleres: Spirasters, variable in length, with 1-9 curves: 10-65 x 2-4.5 µm.
Skeleton: Of the papillae, a palisade of tylostyles with an often dense spread of spirasters; of the galleries, loosely strewn tylostyles and microscleres.
Reproduction: Oocytes have been observed in September.
Ecology: Apparently confined to mollusc shells and calcareous algae, not known from dead limestone rocks. It is definitely less destructive than C. celata. Depth range is 0-1300 m.
Distribution: Scandinavia, British Isles, North Sea, west coasts of France; Western Mediterranean.
Type specimen information: The only remains left of the type are 4 slides in the Hancock Museum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, reg.nrs 4.16.01-04, from Guernsey, Channel Islands (Rützler and Stone, 1986).

Remarks

This is an easily recognizable species with papillae much smaller and more densely crowded than those of Cliona celata. From C. caledoniae and Pione vastifica it differs on sight by the pale yellow colour of the papillae (against the orange-red ones of vastifica). The former species has thick short spirasters only, while the latter species has spined microxeas among its spicules (mircoscopic examination necessary).
Source: Topsent, 1888a.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera
Class Demospongiae
Order Hadromerida
Family Clionaidae
Genus Cliona
Species Cliona lobata

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Cliona lobata Hancock, 1849

Scientific synonyms and common names

Cliona lobata n.sp. Hancock, 1849: 341, pl. XII figs. 4, 8; Hancock, 1867: 238, pl. VII fig. 6; Bowerbank, 1882: 238; Topsent, 1888a: 57, pl. III figs. 8-10, pl. VII fig. 2; 1891: 530; 1899: 105; 1900: 70, pl. II fig. 2, 10, pl. III fig.1, pl. IV fig.1; Stephens, 1915: 25; Prenant, 1927: 44; Arndt, 1935: 44, fig. 75; Alander, 1942: 80; Lévi, 1950b: 8; Lévi and Vacelet, 1958: 242; Borojevic et al., 1968: 6; Rützler and Stone, 1986: 663, fig. 3c-d;
Cliona howsei n.sp. Hancock, 1849: 336, pl. XIV fig.8; Hancock, 1867: 238, pl. VII fig. 5; Bowerbank, 1882: 238; Rützler and Stone, 1986: 663, fig. 3a-b
Pronax lobata: Gray, 1867: 526

Alander, H., 1942. Sponges from the Swedish west-coast and adjacent waters. Thesis Lund Univ., 95 pp., 16 pls.

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.

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.

Hancock, A., 1849. On the excavating powers of certain sponges belonging to the genus Cliona. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (2) 3: 321.

Hancock, A., 1867. Note on the excavating sponges; with descriptions of four new species. Annls. Mag. nat. Hist., (3) 19: 229-242

Lévi, C. and J. Vacelet, 1958. Éponges récoltées dans l'Atlantique oriental par le "Président Théodore Tissier" (1955-56). Rev. Trav. Inst. Pêch. marit., 22 (2): 225-246.

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

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.

Rützler, K. and S.M. Stone, 1986. Discovery and significance of Albany Hancock's microscope preparations of excavating sponges (Porifera: Hadromerida: Clionidae). Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 99 (4): 658-675.

Rützler, K. 2002b Family Clionaidae d'Orbigny, 1851. Pp 173-185. In: Hooper J.N.A. and van Soest R.W.M.(eds) Systema Porifera: a guide to the classification of sponges.2 volumes. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Stephens, J., 1915. Sponges of the coast of Ireland. 1.-The Triaxonida and part of the Tetraxonida. Fisheries Ireland, Sci. Investigations, 1914, IV [1915]: 1-43.

Tendal, O.S., 1973. De danske farvandes boresvampe. Flora og Fauna, 79 (4): 105-108.

Topsent, E., 1888a. Contribution à l'étude des Clionides. Arch. Zool. expér. gén., (2) 5: 1-166, pls. I-VII.

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

Topsent, E., 1899. Documents sur la faune des Spongiaires des côtes de Belgique. Arch. Biol., 16: 105-115.

Topsent, E., 1900. Étude monographique des spongiaires de France. 3. Monaxonida (Hadromerina). Arch. Zool. exp. gén., (3) 8: 1-331, 8 pls.

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