Haliclona (Halichoclona) fulva Topsent 1893

Haliclona (Halichoclona) fulva (Topsent, 1893)

Figure 2 C, 3C, 4C

Reniera fulva Topsent, 1893, 39; 1925, 711; Griessinger 1971, 138, 139, Fig. 7, Fig. 8, pl. II, Fig. 3. Haliclona (Halichoclona) fulva; Kefalas & Castritsi-Catharios 2007, 1534.

Material examined. ESFM –POR / 2014–003, October 2013, 30 m, on a mussel shell in sandy bottom, 1 specimen Description. The specimen is massive and thickly encrusting. The body has a greenish color in alcohol; fragile and hard (Fig. 2 C). Oscules are few, slightly elevated, circular and small (2–4 mm). Ectosomal and choanosomal skeleton consists of primary multispicular and secondary unispicular tracts (Fig. 3 C). The choanosomal primary columns are covered by large quantities of spongin and thus are very difficult to distinguish. Spicules are include only slender and fusiform oxeas: 180–300 x 5–9 µm (Fig. 4 C). No microscleres.

Habitat and distribution. The species was found on a mussel shell in the Black Sea. It was previously reported on hard substrata in shallow water in the east Atlantic Ocean (Topsent 1892a, De Weerdt 1987) and the western Mediterranean (Topsent 1892b), Adriatic Sea (Griessinger 1971), Aegean Sea (Kefalas et al. 2003), Alboran Sea (Maldonado 1992) and Levantine Sea (Evcen & Cinar 2012).