Suberea etiennei Soest, Kaiser & Van Syoc, 2011

Suberea etiennei Soest, Kaiser & Van Syoc, 2011 View in CoL

Figure 10 View FIGURE 10 , Table 10 View TABLE 10

Examined material. MUHNES-91-51— El Bajón de Zúniga I (13°30’16.15”N, 89°47’7.4”W), depth 9 m, A. Trejo (18.VII.2018) GoogleMaps .

Description. Pale yellow sponge in life, after preservation it turned violet-black, it does not have a specific morphology and has a low proportion of fibers compared to the organic material, it is soft and irregular to touch ( Figure 10A View FIGURE 10 ). It presents mostly dichotomous dendritic fibers that divide irregularly and much more frequently when approaching the surface. The fibers are thin (35–90 µm) compared to other species of the same genus, the pith is dark and granular, occupying between 43–75% of the fiber ( Figure 10B–C View FIGURE 10 ).

Ecological notes. The species was found attached to large rocks and surrounded by turf at 9 m depth.

Distribution and previous records. The species was described by Van Soest et al. in 2011 from Clipperton Islands. Here we report it for the first time in Central America ( Table 12 View TABLE 12 ).

Remarks. The specimen shares the common characteristics of the genus Suberea as the low proportion of fibers compared to the soft tissue. We state that the specimen belongs to S. etiennei because it has very thin fibers and the proportion of the pith is similar to the original description ( Van Soest et al. 2011). There are only two species of Suberea described from the eastern Pacific: S. etiennei from Clipperton Islands, and S. esmerelda Sim-Smith, Hickman Jr & Kelly, 2021 from Galapagos Islands, this species differs with our specimen because of its morphological external characteristics as a massive and multilobate sponge with large conspicuous oscules at the ápex of the lobes, also its color in life is dull yellow to greenish grey ( Sim-Smith et al. 2021).