cone sponge Polymastia invaginata

Polymastia invaginata is found throughout Antarctica and South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, South Georgia Island, Bouvet Island, Heard Island, Kerguelen Island, and Chile at depths from 18 to 1,266 meters [1,3,7,8,9,13]. The body of P. invaginata is cushion-shaped, like a flattened sphere, conical, or hemispherical with a diameter up to 11 centimeters and a maximum height of at least 4.5 centimeters [4,7,10]. The surface of P. invaginata is covered with a dense bristled or hairy spicule felt especially around papillae or where the sponge is attached to the substrate; its single apical oscular papilla can retract when disturbed [4,6,7,10].


Here Polymastia invaginata is poking out from under an overhanging rock at nine meters depth at Couloir Cliffs at Granite Harbor [11]. P. invaginata is conspicuous on rocks or cobble substrata and in the same areas as the sponge Homaxinella balfourensis [5].

The color of P. invaginata is whitish gray, pale yellow, dark yellow, gray, or light gray [4,7,8,12].


Polymastia invaginata is commonly seen, being 1.0% of the benthic surface cover and 0.5% of the sponge biomass at a Cape Armitage site [6]. P. invaginata is found in the second and third benthic zones of Cape Armitage starting below 15 meters depth [6].

32 of P. invaginata showed no growth in ten years; another 64 showed no growth in three years [5].


Predators of Polymastia invaginata include the seastars Odontaster meridionalis and Perknaster fuscus antarcticus (when juvenile), and the nudibranch Doris kerguelenensis [6].

An extract from P. invaginata has antibacterial, antifungal, 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: Antarctic Science 4(2):137-150, 1992; 5: 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; 6: Ecological Monographs 44(1):105-128, 1974; 7: 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; 8: Instituto Antartico Chileno. Serie Cientifica 39:97-158, 1989; 9: Polar Biology 12:559-585, 1992; 10: Les Demosponges du Plateau Continental de Kerguelen-Heard. N Boury-Esnault & M Van Beveren. CNFRA Number 52, 1982. Paris : Comite National Francais pour les Recherches Antarctiques; 11: Kathleen Conlan, personal communication, 1999; 12: Tethys Supplement 4:135-156, 1972; 13: Polar Biology 29(2):83-96, 2006

Text ©Peter Brueggeman. Photographs ©Canadian Museum of Nature (Kathleen Conlan), Jim Mastro, & Norbert Wu. Photographs may not be used in any form without the express written permission of Canadian Museum of Nature (Kathleen Conlan), Jim Mastro, & Norbert Wu. Norbert Wu no longer grants permission for uncompensated use of his photos under any circumstances whatsoever; want more info?