Rossella podagrosa Kirkpatrick 1907

• Main Authors: Göcke, Christian, Janussen, Dorte, Reiswig, Henry M., Jarrell, Shannon C., Dayton, Paul K.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Porifera; Hexactinellida; Lyssacinosida; Rossellidae; Rossella; Rossella podagrosa; McMurdo Sound; Ross Island; Burton; Dayton; Armitage; Hut Point; Cape Armitage; Winter Quarters Bay; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/5635480; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5635480

Rossella podagrosa Kirkpatrick, 1907 (Fig. 1–2, Tab. 1) Rossella podagrosa Kirkpatrick, 1907: 11, pl. 3, figs. 2–3, pl. 5, fig. 1. Topsent 1917: 14. Tabachnick 2002: 1447. Rossella podagrosa tenuis Topsent, 1916: 4; 1917: 15. Not Rossella racovitzae Burton 1929: 407 –409, fig. 1, pl. 1; 1932: 256–257; 1934: 7. Koltun 1976: 165 (pars). Barthel & Tendal 1994: 92 –95, figs. 35–36, pl. 3–4. Göcke & Janussen 2013: 116 –120, fig. 2 F, 7, tab. 6). Material. 1 Specimen (P 1635) from 30 m depth at Cape Armitage, Ross Island, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica; BMNH 1908.2. 5.6 (type) from Discovery Collection, Winter Quarters Bay, Hut Point, D Net, 15.12. 1902. Description. The sponge body is of a slender, upright shape with one round osculum at the top. It usually bears numerous buds that originate from the basal region of the mother and grow from ~ 3–5 mm to> 3 cm prior to separation. The sponges show an unusual fast growth rate increasing their length by as much as 16 cm in a decade and have been shown to increase their volume by almost 300 % in just three years. Moreover, newly separated buds themselves can grow new buds within one year (Dayton, 1979). This mode of reproduction leads to a typical appearance of dense colonies with several specimens growing close to each other (Fig. 1 A). Colonies are often densely covered by sediment including loads of (foreign) loose spicular material, so that in many cases only the tips of the sponges with the oscules are visible within the sediment (Fig 1 B–D). The single specimen (Fig. 1 E) can reach a height of approximately 20 cm. The surface bears no conules, but it can be covered by a narrow veil of protruding pentactines. Protruding diactins are not prominent. The sponge has a basal root tuft of long pentactines as it is usual for the genus. The inner cavity has a dense surface; its basal part in rare cases bears large round cavernous openings. In contrast to other Rossella species, the texture of the sponge is soft, and it is too fragile for handling without damaging it. ...