red sponge Kirkpatrickia variolosa

Kirkpatrickia variolosa is found throughout Antarctica and South Georgia Island from 18 to 640 meters depth [1,3,7]. The body of K. variolosa is fan-shaped with thick finger-like outgrowths starting from a common base whose tips have an oscular opening one centimeter in diameter [6].



Fronds of Kirkpatrickia variolosa are up to eighteen centimeters high and thirteen centimeters wide, and its surface has fields of slightly raised pores with areoles [6,8].

The color of K. variolosa is pale brown, beige, orange red, or deep red [5,6,8].



Kirkpatrickia variolosa is uncommonly seen, being 0.02% of the benthic surface cover at a Cape Armitage site [5]. K. variolosa is typically seen in the second benthic zone of Cape Armitage between 15 and 33 meters depth [5].

Two of five K. variolosa grew 5-10% by volume in ten years; another 23 showed no measurable growth over three years [4].



Predators of Kirkpatrickia variolosa include the seastars Perknaster fuscus antarcticus (when juvenile) and Acodontaster conspicuus [5].

An extract from K. variolosa has antibacterial and antiyeast activity [2].

1: B.A.N.Z. Antarctic Research Expedition, 1929-1931, under the command of Sir Douglas Mawson, Kt., O.B.E., B.E., D.Sc., F.R.S., Reports -- Series B (Zoology and Botany). Volume 9, part 4. Porifera -- Part 1: Antarctic Sponges. VM Koltun. Adelaide : Mawson Institute for Antarctic Research, University of Adelaide, 1976; 2: Antarctic Science 4(2):179-183, 1992; 3: Hooper, JNA & Wiedenmayer, F. Porifera. IN: Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 12. Wells, A, ed. Melbourne : CSIRO Australia, 1994; 4: Biologie des Spongiaires, Sponge Biology. C Levi and N Boury-Esnault, eds. Colloques Internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Number 291. Paris : Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1979. pp.271-282; 5: Ecological Monographs 44(1):105-128, 1974; 6: Sponges of the Antarctic. I. Tetraxonida and Cornacuspongida. VM Koltun. IN: Biological reports of the Soviet Antarctic Expedition, 1955-1958 (Rezultaty biologicheskikh issledovanii Sovetskoi antarkticheskoi ekspeditsii, 1955-1958). Volume 2. EP Pavlovskii, ed. Jerusalem : Israel Program for Scientific Translations. 1966. pp.6-131; Appendix, Index of Latin Names on pp. 443-448; 7: Polar Biology 12:559-585, 1992; 8: Systema Porifera. JNA Hooper and RWM Van Soest. New York: Kluwer, 2002

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