tubular sponge Sphaerotylus antarcticus

Sphaerotylus antarcticus is found throughout Antarctica and South Georgia Island from 15 to 450 meters depth [1,2,5,8,9].

The body of S. antarcticus is spherical up to six centimeters in diameter, or cushion-shaped with a maximum width of twelve centimeters (and five centimeters high) [5,7,9].



The surface of Sphaerotylus antarcticus is densely bristled and has one or several tube-like oscular papillae up to four centimeters long which can be retracted when disturbed [4,5,9].

The color of S. antarcticus is grayish, grayish brown, dark brown, or dark gray with yellow or orange papillae [4,5,6,7,9].



Here Sphaerotylus antarcticus is to the right of Suberites montiniger.

S. antarcticus is found in the second and third benthic zones at Cape Armitage below 15 meters depth [4]. S. antarcticus is less commonly seen, being 0.5% of the benthic surface cover and 0.3% of the sponge biomass at a Cape Armitage site [4]. Only one of 72 S. antarcticus increased in diameter in ten years and it was possibly one centimeter [3]. None of another 52 S. antarcticus grew during a three year period [3].

Taxonomic Note: Koltun placed Sphaerotylus antarcticus in the subgenus Borealis [1].

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: Hooper, JNA & Wiedenmayer, F. Porifera. IN: Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 12. Wells, A, ed. Melbourne : CSIRO Australia, 1994; 3: 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; 4: Ecological Monographs 44(1):105-128, 1974; 5: 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; 6: Instituto Antartico Chileno. Serie Cientifica 39:97-158, 1989; 7: 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; 8: Polar Biology 12:559-585, 1992; 9: Tethys Supplement 4:9-24, 1972

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