(Fabricius, 1780)

Species Overview

Sycon ciliatum (Fabricius, 1780), also known as Scypha ciliata, is a white tubular sponge of which the terminal oscule is crowned by a fringe of long stiff spicules. Tubes are normally a few centimeters in length and are either solitary or occur in small clusters. It is a very common and characteristic shallow-water calcareous sponge occurring along most coasts of Europe, among seaweeds, hydroids and on rocks in the littoral and shallow-sublittoral. From Holland a similar species, Sycon scaldiense, has been described which may be distinguished easily by a much more "hairy" surface.

Taxonomic Description

Colour: Off-white, grey or brown.
Shape, size, surface and consistency: (Sycon ciliatum 2) (Sycon ciliatum Mario) Tubular, usually single, but clusters of separate individuals often occur together, up to 9 cm long (though usually 1-3 cm). Surface usually finely papillate and hairy, though occasionally smooth. If smooth it may be impossible to separate from Grantia compressa. There is a single terminal oscule, which is normally fringed with a crown of spicules. Consistency moderately soft, though can be firmer.
Spicules: (Sycon ciliatum spics) Calcareous. Triactines are localized in various parts of the skeleton, rays 100-200 x 5-10 µm with basal ray varying from 100-250 µm, with larger ones in the choanosomal layer.
Tetractines of the chamber layer are of two types, with apical rays pointing into the ectosome, and with short curved apical rays projecting into the central atrium, ray lengths between 100 and 200 x 5-10 µm with apical rays 20-80 x 8-10 µm.
Oxeas are long and thin, straight, and tapering gradually to pointed extremities, 1000-3000 x 6-25 µm.
Skeleton: (Sycon ciliatum cross) The ectosomal skeleton is a tangential layer of small triactines with long straight oxeas projecting beyond the surface. The skeleton of the chamber layer consists of regularly overlapping tetractines. There is a choanosomal skeleton of larger triactines. A crown of oxeas surrounds the terminal osculum.
Choanocyte chambers: The choanocyte chambers are entirely free from each other, giving the sponge a "loose" consistency.
Reproduction: July-August.
Ecology: Intertidal under overhangs near low water mark. Common in shallow sublittoral, present in deeper water.
Distribution: Arctic to Gibraltar.
Etymology: The name means: provided with hairs.
Type specimen information: No type material in BMNH. MCS Voucher BELUM: Mc7. Strangford Lough, Down.

Remarks

Identifications by eye are usually correct, though beware of the species listed below. Outer surface must be finely papillate (use x10 hand lens). In this species the papillae are the free ends of the water pumping (flagellate) chambers. A similar species sofar reported only from Holland is Sycon scaldiense; this has a characteristic "hairy" aspect (due to extremely long oxeas protruding from the surface of the sponge).
Confusion is possible with Grantia compressa: Sycon ciliatum is normally finely papillate, but may have a smooth surface and G. compressa is normally flat, but may be cylindrical. There seems to be an overlap in external appearance between these two species. Both are common on most shores, in the same sort of habitats.
Confusion is also possible with Leuconia johnstoni. This species has tubular chimney-like lobes but these are joined by a common base, and there are short rims to the terminal oscules.
Sycon coronatum is a much used name but is here considered a junior synonym of S. ciliatum, following Van Koolwijk (1982). Alleged differences are the thickness of the oxeas and some minor differences in oogenesis and embryology; the latter observations are made from dubiously identified material.
Source: Ackers et al., 1992

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera
Class Calcarea
Subclass Calcaronea
Order Leucosolenida
Family Sycettidae
Genus Sycon
Species Sycon ciliatum

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Sycon ciliatum (Fabricius, 1780)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Spongia ciliata n.sp. Fabricius, 1780: 448
Spongia coronata n.sp. Ellis and Solander, 1786: 190, pl. LVIII figs. 8-9; Montagu, 1818: 14.
Grantia ciliata: Bowerbank, 1866: 19; Norman, 1869: 296; Bowerbank, 1874: 3, pl. II figs. 1-15; McIntosh, 1874: 143
Sycandra ciliata: Haeckel, 1870: 296, pls. 151, 58, 51; Vosmaer, 1882a: 51; Higgin, 1886: 92; Arnesen, 1901a: 70.
Sycandra coronata: Haeckel, 1870: 304, pl. 60; Fristedt, 1885: 10; Arnesen, 1901a: 70.
Sycandra coranata var. spinispiculum: Fristedt, 1885: 11.
Sycandra ciliata var. coronata: Vosmaer, 1882a
Sycon ciliatum: Topsent, 1891a: 525; Maitland, 1897: 55; Topsent, 1899: 105; Stephens, 1912: 10; Burton, 1931: 167; Brøndsted, 1932: 2; Burton, 1957: 27; Burdon-Jones and Tambs-Lyche, 1960: 6; Bruce et al., 1963: 42; Borojevic et al., 1968: 33; Descatoire, 1969a: 181; Hamond, 1970: 87; Cabioch, 1973: 5.
Sycon coronatum: Topsent, 1891a: 525; Topsent, 1894: 7; Topsent, 1899: 105; Stephens, 1912: 10; De Beauchamp, 1914: 93; Prenant, 1927: 7; Burton, 1931: 167; Topsent, 1932: 1; Bruce et al., 1963: 43.
Scypha ciliata: Burton, 1963: 359; Tendal, 1965: 96, fig. 2a; Könnecker, 1973: 454; Frith, 1976; Van Soest, 1977: 265, pl. 2A; Van Soest, 1977a: S30, fig. 3; Van Soest et al., 1981: 37; Van Soest, 1983: 29; Ackers, 1983: 162; Ackers et al., 1985: 51, figs. 22-23.
Scypha coronata: Van Soest et al., 1981: 37.

Ackers, R.G., D. Moss, B.E. Picton and S.M.K. Stone, 1985. Sponges of the British Isles ("Sponge IV"). I. Marine Conservation Soc., Ross on Wye, U.K.: 1-107.

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.

Ackers, R.G., 1983. Some local and national distributions of sponges. Porcupine Newsletter, 2 (7): 162-165.

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

Arnesen, E., 1901a. Calcarea. Meeresfauna von Bergen: 67-72.

Beauchamp, P. de, 1914. Les grèves de Roscoff. Lechevalier, Paris.

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.

Breton, G., A. Girard and J.P. Lagardère, 1996. Espèces animales benthiques des bassins du port du Havre (Normandie, France) rares, peu connues ou nouvelles pour la région. Bull. trim. Soc. Géol. Normandie et Amis Muséum du Havre, 82 (3): 7-28

Brøndsted, H.V., 1932. Marine Spongia. The Zoology of the Faroes, 1 (1, III): 1-34.

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).

Burdon-Jones, C. and H. Tambs-Lyche, 1960. Observations on the fauna of the North Brattholmen stone-coral reef near Bergen. Årbok Univ. Bergen. Mat.-Naturv. Ser., 1960 (4): 1-24.

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.

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

Ellis, J. and D. Solander, 1786. Natural history of many curious and uncommon Zoophytes collected from various parts of the Globe. Benjamin White and Son, London, 206 pp, 63 pls.

Fabricius, O., 1780. Fauna Groenlandica. Hafniae et Lipsiae.

Fristedt, K., 1885. Bidrag till kännedomen om de vid sveriges vestra kust lefvande spongiae. K. svensk. Vet.-Akad. Handl., 21 (6): 1-56.

Frith, D.W., 1976. Animals associated with sponges at North Hayling, Hampshire. Zool. J. Linnaean Soc., 58: 353-362.

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

Hamond, R., 1970. The marine Protozoa, Mesozoa and Porifera of Norfolk. pp. 83-89 (no further data on journal)

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

Koolwijk, T. van, 1982. Calcareous sponges of the Netherlands (Porifera, Calcarea). Bull. Zool. Mus. Univ. Amsterdam, 8 (12): 89-98.

Koolwijk, T. van, 1983. Kalksponzen in Nederland. Het Zeepaard, 43 (2): 55-61.

Maitland, R.T. 1897. Prodrome de la fauna des Pays Bas et de la Belgique flamande. Brill, Leiden. 62 pp.

McIntosh, W.C., 1874. On the invertebrate marine fauna and fishes of St. Andrews. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (4) 13: 140-145.

(text repeated in: McIntosh, W.C., 1875. The marine invertebrates and fishes of St Andrews. Black, Edinburgh: pp.12-17)

Norman, A.M., 1869. Notes on a few Hebridean sponges and on a new Desmacidon from Jersey. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (4) 3: 296-299.

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.

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.

Soest, R.W.M. van, 1977. Marine and freshwater sponges (Porifera) of the Netherlands. Zool. Meded. Leiden, 50 (16): 261-273.

Soest, R.W.M. van, 1977a. Sponzen. Natura, 74 (5): S28-S31.

Soest, R.W.M. van, 1983. Sponzenonderzoek in Nederland. Het Zeepaard, 43 (2): 28-33.

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

Tendal, O.S., 1965. Danske kalksvampe. Flor og Fauna, 71 (3): 95-98.

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

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.

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

Topsent, E., 1932. Remarques sur des Éponges de l'estuaire de la Rance. Bull. Lab. St. Servan, 8: 1-7.

Vosmaer, G.C.J., 1882a. Sponzen. Tijdschr. Ned. Dierk. Ver., 6 (1): li-lii.

No distribution map was available at OBIS the last time we checked. Retry now.

You can continue searching for Sycon ciliatum on one of these Web sites:

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

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia