Haeckel, 1870

Species Overview

Ascaltis lamarcki Haeckel, 1870 is a small fragile, whitish or reddish rounded mass of anastomosing tubes with an apical oscule. There is a resemblance with certain Clathrina, but in contrast with species of that genus, there is a "skin" covering the mass of tubes. Also, in this species, large spicules may be visible at the surface. It has a wide distribution along most of the coasts of Western Europe, but is not recorded often as it ocurs below 60 m.

Taxonomic Description

Colour: Whitish or pale red.
Shape size, surface and consistency: Transparent strawberry-like rounded mass of anastomosing and ramified tubes covered by a continuous "skin". Small size, up to 4 cm in height and diameter, often smaller. Surface perforated by ostioles which open into the aquiferous system. Consistency fragile.
Spicules: (A. lamarcki Burton) Calcareous. Triactines and (rudimentary) tetractines.
Regular triactines of the cortex large, equiangular and equiradiate: 338-377 x 26-31 µm. Regular triactines of the choanosomal skeleton: with rays 80-130 x 2-10 µm.
Regular tetractines, which are triactines with a rudimentary fourth ray: normal rays 80-120 x 4-6 µm.
Skeleton: There is a cortical skeleton consisting of tri-and tetractines, while the choanosomal skeleton consists of triactines only. The tubes forming the choanocyte chambers are peripherally branched (Ascaltis lamarcki anat).
Reproduction: August-September.
Ecology: On hard substrates, in deeper water, 60-645 m.
Distribution: Arctic, W-coast of France, Bay of Biscay; Gibraltar, Morocco; elsewhere reported from Australia and Florida.
Etymology: Named after the distinguished naturalist Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, pioneering author of sponge systematics.
Type specimen information: No type material in BMNH; type probably lost.

Remarks

This is an ill-known species and more information on its distribution is required. The records from other parts of the world need comparison.
There is a nomenclatorial problem with the present species: recent revision (Borojevic et al., 1990) ignored Dendy and Row's (1913) conclusion that lamarcki is a junior synonym of Aulorrhiza intestinalis Haeckel, 1869 (1872). It is here proposed to follow the recent revision (but see Hooper and Wiedenmayer, 1994).
Sources: Borojevic, 1968; Borojevic et al., 1990.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera
Subphylum Cellularia
Class Calcarea
Subclass Calcinea
Order Clathrinida
Family Leucascidae
Genus Ascaltis
Species Ascaltis lamarcki

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Ascaltis lamarcki Haeckel, 1870

Scientific synonyms and common names

Ascaltis lamarcki n.sp. Haeckel, 1870: 60, pl. 9 fig. 5, pl. 10 fig. 4; Borojevic et al., 1968: 32; Borojevic and Boury-Esnault, 1987: 17 fig. 14; Borojevic et al., 1990: 261, fig. 23.
Aulorrhiza intestinalis n.sp. Haeckel, 1870
Leucosolenia lamarcki: Dendy and Row, 1913: 726; Burton, 1963: 206

Borojevic, R. and N. Boury-Esnault, 1987. Calcareous sponges collected by N.O. Thalassia in the continental margin of the Bay of Biscaye: I. Calcinea: 3-27. In: J. Vacelet and N. Boury-Esnault, eds. Taxonomy of Porifera. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg. NATO-ASI Series, G13: 1-332.

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

Borojevic, R., N. Boury-Esnault and J. Vacelet, 1990. A revision of the supraspecific classification of the subclass Calcinea (Porifera, class Calcarea). Bull. Mus. natn. Hist. nat., Paris, (4) 12 (A,2): 243-276.

Borojevic, R., 1968. Éponges calcaires des côtes de France IV. Le genre Ascaltis Haeckel emend. Arch. Zool. exp. gén., 109 (2): 193-210.

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

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.

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

Hooper, J.N.A. and F. Wiedenmayer, 1994. Porifera. Zool. Cat. Australia, 12: i-xii, 1-624.

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