Agelas

Agelas
	Orange elephant ear sponge, Agelas clathrodes, in foreground. Two soft corals in the background: a sea fan, Iciligorgia schrammi, and a sea rod, Plexaurella nutans.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Porifera
Class:	Demospongiae
Order:	Agelasida
Family:	Agelasidae
Genus:	Agelas; Duchassaing & Michelotti [it], 1864
Species
	See text
Synonyms
	List Chalinopsis Schmidt, 1870; Ectyon Gray, 1867; Oroidea Gray, 1867; Pachychalinopsis Schmidt, 1880; Siphonochalinopsis Schmidt, 1880;

Agelas is a genus of sea sponge in the class Demospongiae.

Ecology and distribution

Members of this genus are filter feeders.^[1] and occur in the West Indies, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean in shallow tropical and subtropical waters^[2] down to a depth of 30 metres (98 ft) or exceptionally 50 metres (160 ft).

Spicules

Some authorities report that the spongin fibres contain no coring spicules while others report that there are some of variable length.^[3] Fernando Parra-Velandia however, describing the Caribbean species in the group, writes that "The presence of verticillated acanthostyle spicules and a fibroreticulate skeleton of spongin fibres cored and/or echinated by spicules characterize this group."^[2]

Species

The World Register of Marine Species includes the following species in the genus:^[1]

Agelas axifera Hentschel, 1911
Agelas bispiculata Vacelet, Vasseur & Lévi, 1976
Agelas braekmani Thomas, 1998
Agelas cavernosa Thiele, 1903
Agelas cerebrum Assmann, van Soest & Köck, 2001
Agelas cervicornis (Schmidt, 1870)
Agelas ceylonica Dendy, 1905
Agelas citrina Gotera & Alcolado, 1987
Agelas clathrodes (Schmidt, 1870)
Agelas conifera (Schmidt, 1870)
Agelas dendromorpha Lévi, 1993
Agelas dilatata Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864
Agelas dispar Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864
Agelas flabelliformis (Carter, 1883)
Agelas gracilis Whitelegge, 1897
Agelas inaequalis Pulitzer-Finali, 1986
Agelas linnaei De Voogd, Parra-Velandia & Van Soest, 2008
Agelas marmarica Lévi, 1958
Agelas mauritiana (Carter, 1883)
Agelas nakamurai Hoshino, 1985
Agelas nemoechinata Hoshino, 1985
Agelas novaecaledoniae Lévi & Lévi, 1983
Agelas oroides (Schmidt, 1864)
Agelas repens Lehnert & van Soest, 1998
Agelas robusta Pulitzer-Finali, 1982
Agelas rudis Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864
Agelas sceptrum (Lamarck, 1815)
Agelas schmidti Wilson, 1902
Agelas semiglaber Pulitzer-Finali, 1996
Agelas sventres Lehnert & van Soest, 1996
Agelas tubulata Lehnert & van Soest, 1996
Agelas wiedenmayeri Alcolado, 1984

References

^ ^a ^b ^c van Soest, Rob (2012). Van Soest RW, Boury-Esnault N, Hooper JN, Rützler K, de Voogd NJ, de Glasby BA, Hajdu E, Pisera AB, Manconi R, Schoenberg C, Janussen D, Tabachnick KR, Klautau M, Picton B, Kelly M, Vacelet J (eds.). "Agelas Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864". World Porifera database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
^ ^a ^b Parra-Velandia, Fernando J.; Zea, Sven; Van Soest, Rob W. M. (2014). "Reef sponges of the genus Agelas (Porifera: Demospongiae) from the Greater Caribbean" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3794 (3): 301–343. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3794.3.1.
^ Hoshino, Takaharo (1985). "Description of two new species of the genus Agelas (Demispongia) from Zamari Island, the Ryukyus, Japan". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Japan. 30: 1–10.

[WoRMS-1] van Soest, Rob (2012). Van Soest RW, Boury-Esnault N, Hooper JN, Rützler K, de Voogd NJ, de Glasby BA, Hajdu E, Pisera AB, Manconi R, Schoenberg C, Janussen D, Tabachnick KR, Klautau M, Picton B, Kelly M, Vacelet J (eds.). "Agelas Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864". World Porifera database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2012-08-01.

[Parra-2] Parra-Velandia, Fernando J.; Zea, Sven; Van Soest, Rob W. M. (2014). "Reef sponges of the genus Agelas (Porifera: Demospongiae) from the Greater Caribbean" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3794 (3): 301–343. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3794.3.1.

[3] Hoshino, Takaharo (1985). "Description of two new species of the genus Agelas (Demispongia) from Zamari Island, the Ryukyus, Japan". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Japan. 30: 1–10.

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