orange dendritic sponge Clathria (Axosuberites) nidificata

Here Clathria (Axosuberites) nidificata is perched in the middle foreground of the green sponge Latrunculia apicalis.

Clathria (Axosuberites) nidificata is found throughout Antarctica and South Shetland Islands, South Sandwich Islands, South Georgia Island, and Chile in depths from 70 to 700 meters [2,3,6,7,9]. C. nidificata is morphologically variable [5,6]. The body of C. nidificata can be globular and erect, branched with finger-like branches, flattened, or layered and fan-shaped [3,5,6]. The surface of C. nidificata is bristly and the sponge is hard [3,5]. C. nidificata can be up to fifteen centimeters high and densely covered with cylindrical outgrowths which are the result of fused branches [3]. C. nidificata is often constricted at its base forming a stalk [3]. The color of C. nidificata is gray, beige, dark yellow, light brown, and brown [3,5].

Clathria (Axosuberites) nidificata may host diatoms within its food-capturing cells that line the passages through which the sponge circulates water; these endobiont diatoms live by consuming carbohydrates produced by the sponge and also by photosynthesis [10]. This symbiotic adaptation by the diatoms enhances their survival in the low light levels found down deep under the ice (as well as the dark months of winter) [10].

Taxonomic Note: Clathria nidificata was placed in an Axociella subgenus in 1994, and then corrected in 2002 to the Axosuberites subgenus [4,12]. The genus name Axociella is used by some authors [2,5,6,7,8,9,10,11].

1: Hooper, JNA & Wiedenmayer, F. Porifera. IN: Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 12. Wells, A, ed. Melbourne : CSIRO Australia, 1994; 2: 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; 3: 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; 4: Invertebrate Taxonomy 7(5):1221-1302, 1993; 5: Ross Sea Expeditions 1987-1988 and 1989- 1990, Straits of Magellan Expedition 1991, Data Report Part 3, Physical, Chemical and Biological Oceanography. F Faranda and L Guglielmo, eds. Genova : Repubblica Italiana, Ministry of the University and Scientific and Technological Research, National Scientific Commision for Antarctica, 1994. pp.67-100; 6: Cahiers de Biologie Marine 16:47-82, 1975; 7: Polar Biology 12:559- 585, 1992; 8: Berichte zur Polarforschung 249:44-52, 1997; 9: Scientia Marina 63(Supplement 1):203-208, 1999; 10: Biological Bulletin 198:29-33, 2000; 11: Ross Sea Ecology : Italiantartide Expeditions (1987-1995). FM Faranda, L Guglielmo, A Ianora, eds. Berlin : Springer, 2000. pp. 551-561; 12: Systema Porifera. JNA Hooper and RWM Van Soest. New York: Kluwer, 2002

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