top of page

A sponge

< Back

Sponge & Cnidarian

A sponge

Tedania (Tedania) suctoria Schmidt, 1870

WoRMS AphialID

169587

Sample IDs

Collected

Scotian Shelf and the Bay of Fundy.

Distinguishing Features

• External Appearance: Pale yellow massive sponge forming low lobes on bedrock. Raised papillae up to four millimetres in length cover its surface. May be covered in silt with only their papillae visible.

• Skeleton: Choanosomal skeleton is a reticulation of bundles of styles. Ectosomal skeleton is composed of fanning bundles of tylotes. Onychaetes are present throughout the tissue.

• Spicules: Styles 300–600 by 12–20 µm, tylotes 250-500 by 3–7 µm, onychaetes 55–500 µm.

Habitat

Found growing on bedrock. Known from depths of 10 to 200 m.

Geographic Range

Present in the Arctic, Newfoundland, Bay of Fundy, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Scotian Shelf, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Faroes, and the Azores.

Fun Fact

Its scientific name comes from the Latin suctor meaning sucking device. Presumably, this refers to its conical papillae.

Barcode Distribution

Portugal, New Zealand but these specimens belong to other Tedania species.

bottom of page