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Living marine sponges of this species grow upright and form a leafy, lamellar structure about 4-5 mm thick with scattered, digitate appendages.
On one side of the sponge, roundish openings with a diameter of about 300-400 μm are grouped together, while on the opposite side numerous pores are scattered and not visible to the naked eye.
The color is brick-red in the living state, ocher in preserved specimens.
The surface is optically smooth, but microhispid under microscopic magnification. The consistency is soft and compressible, rough to the touch.
The specimens collected in Mozambique match the external morphology of Callyspongia abnormis Pulitzer-Finali, 1993 from Mombasa, Kenya in skeletal structure as well as shape and size of the spicules. Examination of the slides of the holotype confirms the identification.
This new discovery enabled the authors to assign the species to the subgenus Euplacella, as the ectosomal skeleton consists of a size of small, rounded meshes covered with spines.
This is the first record of the species since its first description.
Synonymised names
Callyspongia abnormis Pulitzer-Finali, 1993 · alternative representation
On one side of the sponge, roundish openings with a diameter of about 300-400 μm are grouped together, while on the opposite side numerous pores are scattered and not visible to the naked eye.
The color is brick-red in the living state, ocher in preserved specimens.
The surface is optically smooth, but microhispid under microscopic magnification. The consistency is soft and compressible, rough to the touch.
The specimens collected in Mozambique match the external morphology of Callyspongia abnormis Pulitzer-Finali, 1993 from Mombasa, Kenya in skeletal structure as well as shape and size of the spicules. Examination of the slides of the holotype confirms the identification.
This new discovery enabled the authors to assign the species to the subgenus Euplacella, as the ectosomal skeleton consists of a size of small, rounded meshes covered with spines.
This is the first record of the species since its first description.
Synonymised names
Callyspongia abnormis Pulitzer-Finali, 1993 · alternative representation
