Schmidt, 1870

Species Overview

Desmacella annexa Schmidt (1870) is a massive or encrusting sponge with irregular, hispid surface. It has characteristic spiculation (microscopic examination). It has been dubiously recorded from Western Europe, mostly from deeper water.

Taxonomic Description

Colour: Live colour of European specimens pale beige; light grey in alcohol.
Shape, size, surface and consistency: Massive or more encrusting, occasionally forming erect masses, with irregular hispid surface. Size may exceed 5 cm. Size of oscules not recorded. Consistency fragile.
Spicules: (Desmacella annexa spics) Megascleres: Tylostyles with prominent tyles, quite variable in size: 220-1050 x 2.5-14 µm. Microscleres: Sigmas in two size classes: 25-42 and 11-15 µm; toxiform raphides, with a bend in the middle with a slight counter bend on both sides: 50-115 x 0.5-2 µm.
Skeleton: Plumose, with ill-defined bundles and scattered single spicules generally directed towards the surface; no special ectosomal skeleton.
Ecology: Encrusting on other sponges, mostly in deep water but recorded from 5 m (Könnecker, 1973).
Distribution: Roscoff, SW Ireland, Norway (Mediterranean, North Atlantic, Caribbean, Indian Ocean).
Etymology: annexus (Latin) = linking, joining; Schmidt gives no indication why he chose that name.
Type specimen information: There is a slide of the type in the Natural History Museum, London, BMNH 1870: 5: 3; 29; this appears to be the only extant type material (Desqueyroux-Faúndez and Stone, 1992).

Remarks

This species was originally described from 350 m deep off the coast of Florida, with a tantalizingly short description. The assignment of European specimens to Schmidt's species is tentative and conspecificity with specimens from the Indian Ocean likewise needs further corroboration. It differs from the Western European D. ornata in the possession of the peculiar toxiform microscleres.
Source: Burton, 1930a.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera
Class Demospongiae
Order Poecilosclerida
Suborder Mycalina
Family Desmacellidae
Genus Desmacella
Species Desmacella annexa

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Desmacella annexa Schmidt, 1870

Scientific synonyms and common names

Desmacella annexa n.sp. Schmidt, 1870: 53; Topsent, 1896: 281; Van Soest and Stentoft, 1988: 116, fig. 57.
Desmacella vagabunda annexa: Schmidt, 1875: 117.
Biemna annexa: Lundbeck, 1902: 85, pl. IV fig. 14, pl. XVII fig. 3.
Tylodesma annexa: Stephens, 1921: 13; Burton, 1930a; Arndt, 1935: 54; Könnecker, 1973: 457.
Sigmatoxella annexa: Lévi, 1950b: 14; Borojevic et al., 1968: 18.

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.

Burton, M., 1930a. Norwegian sponges from the Norman collection. Proc. zool. Soc. London, 2: 487-546.

Desqueyroux-Faúndez, R. and S.M. Stone, 1992. O. Schmidt sponge catalogue. An illustrated guide to the Graz Museum collection, with notes on additional material. Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève,190 pp, 49 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.

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

Lundbeck, W., 1902. Porifera. Part I. Homorrhaphidae and Heterorrhaphidae. Danish Ingolf Exped., 6: 1-108.

Schmidt, O., 1870. Grundzüge einer Spongien-Fauna des Atlantischen Gebietes. Engelmann, Leipzig: iv+88 pp., VI pls.

Schmidt, O., 1875. Nordsee Expedition, 1872. II. Spongien. Jahresber.Comm. Unters. Meeres,1875: 115-120

Soest, R.W.M. van, and N. Stentoft, 1988. Barbados deep water sponges. Stud. Fauna Curaçao Caribb. Isl., 70: 1-175.

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

Topsent, E., 1896b. Éponges. Résultats scientifiques de la Campagne du Caudan dans le Golfe de Gascogne, août-septembre 1895. Ann. Univ. Lyon, 2: 235-251

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