42 



THE SPONGES OF THE WEST-CENTRAL PACIFIC 



U.S.N.M. No. 22856, My No. M. 150, collected July 7, 1949, by diver at 

 Ebon Atoll in the southeastern part of the lagoon. The depth was 2 

 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 



U.S.N.M. No. 23005, My No. M. 385, collected July 11, 1949, by diver at 

 Likiep Atoll in the eastern part of the lagoon near Lado Islet. The 

 depth was 5 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 



U.S.N.M. No. 22877, My No. M. 174, collected July 30, 1949, by diver in 

 northwestern Ponape near the shore or landward side of the lagoon. 

 The depth was 2 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 



Only one sample of this species was found at both Majuro and Ebon, 

 but it was common at Likiep and Ponape where it occurred especially in the 

 southwestern portion, called Kiti. 



This is an amorphous, or massive, sponge. The youngest specimens 

 are incrusting. The maximum thickness of some specimens seems to be 

 about 5 cm, and the lateral growth may be indefinite over the three-dimen- 

 sional masses of jagged coral. 



The color in life was vivid orange, sometimes almost red-orange, of both 

 the endosome and ectosome. The consistency was soft, slimy, and weak, so 

 that the sponge falls apart of its own weight when lifted out of water. 



The surface of this species is coarsely conulose, the conules being about 

 3 mm high and often 9 mm or more apart. The pores are about 0.3 mm in 

 diameter, and there is about one for each square mm. Many of the speci- 

 mens have no evident oscule. 



The ectosome is covered with a very thin fleshy dermis, about 15 ^ 

 thick. The endosome is also very fleshy. 



The skeleton of this species definitely needs further study. There is 

 some information in de Laubenfels, 1950 (Bermuda), but this is only a 

 beginning. There is a vague reticulation of what may be called fibers. 

 These are not at all the cylindrical objects often thus designated, but have 

 an exceedingly irregular cross-section. They are in some cases like strips 

 or sheets — torn, jagged, and stuck together here and there. They are regu- 

 larly packed with foreign objects, which at first seem to be sponge spicules. 

 A few of them are clear-cut spicules, may be studied in boiled-out prepara- 

 tions, and are undoubtedly derived from neighboring specimens of Porifera. 





Text Figure No. 22. Portion of the fiber of Dysidea crawshayi, X 182. 



