Clathrina fjordica Azevedo, Hajdu, Willenz & Klautau, 2009, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Azevedo, Fernanda
name: Hajdu, Eduardo
name: Willenz, Philippe
name: Klautau, Michelle
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Porifera
Calcarea
Clathrinida
Clathrinidae
Clathrina
Clathrina fjordica

description: Clathrina fjordica sp. nov.
(Figs. 3 A–F, 9A; Table 3)
Type material. IZUA-POR-0115 = MNRJ 8143 (holotype / alcohol). MNRJ 8145 = RBINSc POR 115 and MNRJ 10321 (paratypes / alcohol).
Type locality. Punta Huinay, Comau Fjord, X th Region, Chile.
Material examined. MNRJ 8142; Tambor, Comau Fjord; collected by E.H., G.L.H. & Ph. Willenz; 20 April 2004; -20 to - 25 m. IZUA-POR-0115 = MNRJ 8143; S. Huinay, Comau Fjord; collected by E.H.; 20 April 2004; - 18 m. MNRJ 8145; Punta Huinay, Comau Fjord; collected by E.H., G.L.H. & Ph.W.; 17 April 2004; -15 to - 18m. MNRJ 8183; “Cross” Huinay, Comau Fjord; collected by E.H., G.L.H. & Ph.W.; 18 April 2004; - 10 to - 18 m. MNRJ 8197; Tambor, Comau Fjord; collected by E.H., G.L.H. & Ph.W.; 20 April 2004; - 15 to - 25 m. MNRJ 8257; Comau Fjord; collected by G. Försterra; 16 September 2003; - 9.5 m. MNRJ 8268; Comau Fjord; collected by G.F.; 21 September 2003; - 26.4 m. MNRJ 10321; in front of HSFS, Comau Fjord; collected by E.H. & Ph.W.; 9 October 2006; - 8 to - 12 m.
Material studied for comparison. BMNH 1882.3.6.7; Slides of the neotype of Clathrina coriacea (Montagu, 1818).
Colour. White to light beige in life and yellow to light brown in alcohol.
Etymology. From its known distribution, provisionally limited to fjords.
Description. Cormus fragile, the holotype is 60 x 45 x 7 mm (Fig. 3 A). It is composed of large, irregular and loosely anastomosed tubes (Figs. 3 B, 9A). Water-collecting tubes are present. The skeleton has no special organisation, and it is composed of only one category of triactine varying from cylindrical to conical actines (Fig. 3 C).
Spicules (Table 3). Triactine [101.9 (±7.9) / 9.0 (±1.2) µm]: Regular (equiangular and equiradiate). Actines are cylindrical to conical, undulated with blunt to rounded tips (Fig. 3 D).
Ecology. This species is photophilous. Specimens were collected in depths varying from 8 to 26 m. Some of them were attached to molluscs, such as gastropods (Crepidula sp.) and mussels (Mytilus chilensis), and also to cnidarians (Hexacorallia) and polychaeta (Polynoidae).
Remarks. The species that appears morphologically closest to C. fjordica sp. nov. is C. coriacea, reported for Chile by Ridley (1881). The new species is indeed morphologically very similar to C. coriacea. However, a careful comparison between spicules slides of the neotype of C. coriacea showed that the new species can be distinguished by a detail in the shape of the actines. C. coriacea presents a slight constriction near the end of the actines (Fig. 3 E), while C. fjordica sp. nov. has undulated actines in the distal 1/3 of the actine (Fig. 3 F). Besides, molecular data (unpublished results) support this non conspecificity. C. coriacea and C. fjordica sp. nov. showed high levels of genetic divergence (4.6%) when compared to Clathrina conspecific species (0 to 1.4%).
The other clathrinas cited for Chile are C. primordialis and the new species C. antofagastensis sp. nov., described above. C. fjordica sp. nov. differs from C. antofagastensis sp. nov. and C. primordialis by the number of spicules categories, which are one in C. fjordica sp. nov. and two in C. antofagastensis sp. nov. and C. primordialis. Moreover, actines in C. fjordica sp. nov. are undulated, while in C. antofagastensis sp. nov. they are straight.
description: Published as part of Azevedo, Fernanda, Hajdu, Eduardo, Willenz, Philippe & Klautau, Michelle, 2009, New records of Calcareous sponges (Porifera, Calcarea) from the Chilean coast, pp. 1-30 in Zootaxa 2072 on pages 6-7, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.187091