Crella (Grayella) pulvinar ( Schmidt, 1868 )

Evcen, Alper & Çinar, Melih Ertan, 2025, Sponge fauna of the Aegean coast of Türkiye with new records for the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Zootaxa 5631 (2), pp. 201-244 : 225-226

Crella (Grayella) pulvinar ( Schmidt, 1868)

( Figure 13 )

Myxilla pulvinar Schmidt, 1868: 14 , pl. II, fig. 14

Crella pulvinar, Pouliquen, 1972: 127 .

Material examined: ESFM-POR/2017-189 , S4, 20 m, on coralligenous habitat, 2 specimens .

Description: Body is thin (height: 0.2–0.8 mm) and encrusting. Surface is smooth with circulary raised areolae (diameter: 0.5–1 mm) ( Figure 13a ). The areolae, of very variable size, are spaced apart and bordered by a raised wall of flared conical shape. Oscules are also areolae. Aquifer channels, clearly visible in the form of translucent veins, converge on the discrete oscula. whose general appearance resembles the craters that group the oscules. The spicules megascleres are diactines: straight tornote strongylotes of 200–285 µm × 4–6,5 µm, and slightly curved and spiny acanthoxeas of 80–115 µm × 1.5–3 µm ( Figure 13b, c ).

Habitat and distribution: This species was previously reported as an epibiont on rocks, coralligenous habitats, some sponges ( Aaptos aaptos , Fasciospongia cavernosa , Sarcotragus foetidus etc.), hard corals and Lithothamnion at depths between 0 and 150 m ( Pulitzer-Finali 1978, 1983). In this study, two individuals were found in the coralligenous habitat at a depth of 20 m. It is a species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea ( de Voogd et al. 2024), previously reported from the Alboran Sea (Maldanodo 1992) and the Tyrrhenian Sea ( Topsent 1901, Vacelet 1969, Pouliquen 1972; Pulitzer-Final 1978, 1983). This is a new record for the sponge fauna of the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Crella (Grayella) pulvinar. a. General view from its natural habitat, b. Spicules (1. strongylotes, 2. acanthoxeas), c. Appearance of spicules under light microscope. Scale: b1. 60 µm, b2. 10 µm, b3. 30 µm, c. 25 µm.