| Oscarellidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Oscarella lobularis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Porifera |
| Class: | Homoscleromorpha |
| Order: | Homosclerophorida |
| Family: | Oscarellidae Lendenfeld, 1887 [1] |
| Genera | |
see text | |
| Oscarellidae | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Oscarella lobularis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Porifera |
| Class: | Homoscleromorpha |
| Order: | Homosclerophorida |
| Family: | Oscarellidae Lendenfeld, 1887 [1] |
| Genera | |
see text | |
Demosponges (Demospongiae) are the most diverse class in the phylum Porifera. They include greater than 90% of all species of sponges with nearly 8,800 species worldwide. They are sponges with a soft body that covers a hard, often massive skeleton made of calcium carbonate, either aragonite or calcite. They are predominantly leuconoid in structure. Their "skeletons" are made of spicules consisting of fibers of the protein spongin, the mineral silica, or both. Where spicules of silica are present, they have a different shape from those in the otherwise similar glass sponges. Some species, in particular from the Antarctic, obtain the silica for spicule building from the ingestion of siliceous diatoms.
Polymastia is a genus of sea sponges containing about 30 species. These are small to large encrusting or dome-shaped sponges with a smooth surface having many teat-shaped projections (papillae). In areas of strong wave action, this genus does not grow the teat structures, but instead grows in a corrugated form.
Homosclerophorida is an order of marine sponges. It is the only order in the monotypic class Homoscleromorpha. The order is composed of two families: Plakinidae and Oscarellidae.
Plakinidae is a family of marine sponges. It is composed of seven genera:
Tethya is a genus of sea sponges belonging to the family Tethyidae. Members of this genus all have a spherical body form and some are known to be able to move at speeds of between 1 and 4 mm per day.
Clathria is a large genus of demosponges in the family Microcionidae.
Haliclona is a genus of demosponges in the family Chalinidae.
Ircinia is a genus of sea sponges in the family Irciniidae.
Rhabdastrella is a genus of marine sponges belonging to the family of Ancorinidae.
Chondrilla is a genus of sea sponges belonging to the family Chondrillidae.
Agelas is a genus of sea sponge in the class Demospongiae.
Oscarella carmela, commonly known as the slime sponge, is a species of sponge in the order Homosclerophorida that was first described in 2004 by G. Muricy and J.S. Pearse. It is believed to be native to intertidal waters in the north east temperate Pacific Ocean and was first found in seawater aquaria in that region. It is used as a model organism in evolutionary biology.
Oscarella lobularis is a species of sponge in the order Homosclerophorida. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, where it forms encrusting colonies on rocks and other hard surfaces.
Mycale is a genus of demosponge with 240 recognised species in 11 subgenera. It has been a large genus with multiple subdivisions since it was first described in 1867.
Jean Vacelet is a French marine biologist who specialises in the underwater fauna of the Mediterranean. After earning his licence at the Faculté des Sciences de Marseille and learning to dive in 1954, he specialised in the study of sponges at the Marine station of Endoume, and there he has stayed faithful to both sponges and place for more than half a century. His research has included all aspects of sponges: taxonomy, habitat, biology, anatomy, their bacterial associations, and their place in the evolution of multi-celled animals. He has studied them not only in the Mediterranean but in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Exploration of underwater grottoes, together with Jacques Laborel and Jo Hamelin, revealed the existence of sponges dating from very ancient geological periods and the unexpected existence of carnivorous sponges, and surprisingly, the grottoes in some ways mimicked life at much greater depths.
Suberea is a genus of sponges belonging to the family Aplysinellidae.
Phorbas is a genus of demosponges belonging to the family Hymedesmiidae.
Plakortis is a genus of marine sponges in the order Homosclerophorida, first described by Franz Eilhard Schulze in 1880.
Oscarella is a genus of marine sponges. The genus can be found off the coast of every continent, in every ocean except the Arctic.