Cliona schmidti Ridley 1881

Cliona schmidti (Ridley, 1881)

(Figure 14)

Synonymy and references. Cliona schmidti (Ridley, 1881): Rützler (1973): 631, fig. 5. Cruz (2002): 114, fig. (unnumbered).

Material. USNM 1228931, Carrie Bow forereef slope, coral rock underside, 30 m; K. Ruetzler col. 26 Apr 1974. USNM 1228932, Carrie Bow forereef slope, coral rock underside, 26 m; K. Ruetzler col. 14 May 1975.

External morphology. Circular, separated papillae of <1–3 mm diameter, small (1–2 mm), closely spaced chambers. Color purplish red, darker in the papillae than in the freshly exposed chambers; staying unchanged after preservation in alcohol.

Skeleton structure. Tylostyles in brushes in the papillae, without orientation in the chambers. Short, stout spirasters and amphiasters occur mainly in the papillae, long, thin spirasters in the chambers.

Spicules. Tylostyles straight or slightly bent, with spherical head, some heads are subterminal (mucronate): 170–350 x 11–15 (274 x 12) Μm. Short, stout spirasters I, densely covered by thick spines, with 2–4 bends, some modified with straight shaft to amphiasters: 25– 50 x 10–20 (40 x 14) Μm; long, slim spiratsres II, with delicate, ornate spines mainly on the convex sides of the 5–8 turns: 50– 75 x 4–8 (63 x 5) Μm.

Ecology. Known as a sciophilous species, 1– 30 m.

Distribution. Mediterranean Sea, North and South Atlantic, now extended to the Caribbean region. Comments. Tylostyles in our material are somewhat thicker and longer than in the described Mediterranean and Atlantic specimens but the stable color and microsclere complement are good indicators for this species.