Haliclona ( Reniera ) aff. portroyalensis Jackson, de Weerdt & Webber, 2006

Haliclona ( Reniera) aff. portroyalensis Jackson, de Weerdt & Webber, 2006 View in CoL

Tables 6, 7; Figs. 28A–F View FIGURE 28

Synonymy and references: Haliclona ( Reniera) portroyalensis Jackson et al. (2006: 62) and Bispo et al. (2016: 241); Haliclona ( Reniera) aff. portroyalensis : present study.

Type locality. Jamaica .

Material examined. CNPGG-2444, Isla Verde reef ( 19.20588°N, - 96.07305°W), 7.8 m depth, coll. Diana Ugalde, 31 August 2018 GoogleMaps .

Description. Thickly encrusting habit; size 2–4.7 × 0.9 cm. Surface smooth, provided with scattered oscules ca. 2 mm diameter, without visible pores. The color in vivo was not recorded, light beige in ethanol. Consistency is soft and flexible.

Skeleton. The ectosomal skeleton is a unispicular isotropic reticulation tending to isodictyal ( Fig. 28A View FIGURE 28 ). Choanosomal skeleton is similar to the ectosomal one, with a unispicular network, but some tracts are 2-3 spicules thick ( Fig. 28B View FIGURE 28 ). Toxas are more abundant in the ectosomal region ( Fig. 28E View FIGURE 28 ).

Spicules. Megascleres: Oxeas slightly curved, smooth, in a large size range; juvenile forms are thinner ( Fig. 28C–D View FIGURE 28 ). Tips sharp, conic to acerate; 140– 181 (17.3)–200/5– 9.2 (1.7)–10 µm. Microscleres ( Fig.28 E–F View FIGURE 28 ): toxas smooth; 24– 52.8 (16.4)–70 × 0.5–1.5 µm.

Distribution. Mexico (current records), Jamaica ( Jackson et al. 2006).

Remarks. This study presents the first record of Haliclona ( R.) portroyalensis after its original description and the first record for the GoM. Our material has slightly smaller and thicker oxeas (140–200/5–10 µm) and smaller toxas (24–70/0.5–1.5 µm) compared with the type material described by Jackson et al. (2006): viz., spicules in the latter, oxeas 153–209.7/6–8.7 µm and toxas 3.6–112.5/0.3–1.5 µm. Furthermore, our material is encrusting and with few apertures visible, as long as Jackson et al. (2006) describe a digitate specimen with a few slightly swollen areas and a bulbous basis and oscules scattered on the surface. Although some differences are observed between our material and the description in Jackson et al. (2006), we have only a small specimen examined. A new analysis of specimens from the Gulf population of H. ( R.) portroyalensis is needed to clarify if the characters observed by us represent morphological variation or point to a new species. Thus, the present identification is just tentative.

Subgenus Haliclona ( Soestella) de Weerdt, 2000