Agelas

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Agelas
Elephant-ear-sponge.jpg
Orange elephant ear sponge, Agelas clathrodes, in foreground. Two soft corals in the background: a sea fan, Iciligorgia schrammi , and a sea rod, Plexaurella nutans .
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Order: Agelasida
Family: Agelasidae
Genus: Agelas
Duchassaing & Michelotti  [ it ], 1864 [1]
Species
See text
Synonyms
List
  • ChalinopsisSchmidt, 1870
  • EctyonGray, 1867
  • OroideaGray, 1867
  • PachychalinopsisSchmidt, 1880
  • SiphonochalinopsisSchmidt, 1880

Agelas is a genus of sea sponge in the class Demospongiae.

Contents

Ecology and distribution

Members of this genus are filter feeders. [1] and occur in the West Indies, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean in shallow tropical and subtropical waters [2] down to a depth of 30 metres (98 ft) or exceptionally 50 metres (160 ft).

Spicules

Some authorities report that the spongin fibres contain no coring spicules while others report that there are some of variable length. [3] Fernando Parra-Velandia however, describing the Caribbean species in the group, writes that "The presence of verticillated acanthostyle spicules and a fibroreticulate skeleton of spongin fibres cored and/or echinated by spicules characterize this group." [2]

Species

The World Register of Marine Species includes the following species in the genus: [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 van Soest, Rob (2012). Van Soest RW, Boury-Esnault N, Hooper JN, Rützler K, de Voogd NJ, de Glasby BA, Hajdu E, Pisera AB, Manconi R, Schoenberg C, Janussen D, Tabachnick KR, Klautau M, Picton B, Kelly M, Vacelet J (eds.). "Agelas Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864". World Porifera database. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2012-08-01.
  2. 1 2 Parra-Velandia, Fernando J.; Zea, Sven; Van Soest, Rob W. M. (2014). "Reef sponges of the genus Agelas (Porifera: Demospongiae) from the Greater Caribbean" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3794 (3): 301–343. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3794.3.1.
  3. ↑ Hoshino, Takaharo (1985). "Description of two new species of the genus Agelas (Demispongia) from Zamari Island, the Ryukyus, Japan". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Japan. 30: 1–10.
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