Cliona euryphylle Topsent, 1888

Trejo, Alejandra, Carballo, José Luis & Segovia, Johanna, 2025, New records and checklist of sponges from El Salvador (Eastern Tropical Pacific), Zootaxa 5613 (1), pp. 99-125 : 113

Cliona euryphylle Topsent, 1888

Figure 9 , Table 9

Examined material. MUHNES-91-43 — El Arco (13°30’50.9”N, 89°47’33.1”W) depth 6 m, A. Trejo (20. VII.2018) .

Description. Boring sponge of calcareous substrate, with a surface area of 5 x 3 cm. Color in life is bright yellow, it turns pale yellow when preserved in alcohol. It has oval oscular papillae of 2–4 mm in diameter slightly protruding from the surface ( Figure 9A ). The skeleton consists of tylostyles and spiraster. Tylostyles have a wellformed head, are straight and with a pointed termination, measuring between 149–354.8 µm. Spiraster are short, stout and with many thick spines ( Figure 9B–C ). The sponge was collected on calcareous algae at a depth of 6 m, and it was possible to observe it thanks to the oscular papillae that protruded from the surface.

Ecological notes. The species was found over calcareous algae surrounded by turf and coarse sand.

Distribution and previous records. The species was described by Topsent in 1888 from the Gulf of Mexico, later it was reported in New Zealand ( Bergquist 1968; Kelly et al. 2009). For the Eastern Tropical Pacific, it has been reported from the states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco and Baja California Sur in México ( Carballo et al. 2008), also from Costa Rica ( Pacheco et al. 2018) and previously from Punta Amapala, El Salvador ( Trejo & Segovia 2024). Here we extend its distribution to Los Cóbanos ( Table 12 ).

Remarks. The specimen is similar to the description made by Carballo et al. (2008) and Pacheco et al. (2018) for C. euryphylle from the Mexican and Central America Pacific, with tylostyles and spirasters as the only spicules present. Another species with these characteristics is C. flavifodina Rützler, 1974 , but its spirasters are much longer (up to 75 µm) and may have three to four undulations than in our sample which only has one.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Cliona euryphylle. A. Collected specimen at 6 m depth. B. Tylostyles. C. Spiraster. Scale bars: A, 2 cm, B, 30 µm, C, 5 µm.