A guide to the deep-water sponges of - NMFS Scientific Publications ...

116 Professional Paper NMFS 12
96. Axinella blanca Koltun, 1959
Description. This sponge has irregular branching
and is extremely arborescent. Consistency is moderately
firm and elastic. Surface of the side branches is
smooth but microscopically hispid. Size is to at least
50 cm × 50 cm. Color in life is highly variable ranging
from light brown, light grey, light yellow, golden-yellow
to light orange. Light brown is the dominant color
in waters deeper than 120 m in the central Aleutian
Islands; golden yellow and light orange are dominant
in shallower water.
Skeletal structure. Skeletal architecture consists of
ascending spicule tracts; spicules protruding from these
tracts cause the hispid surface of the ectosome. Spicules
are long oxeas (850–1350 × 18–35 µm) and short styles
(320–530 × 8–15 µm).
Zoogeographic distribution. Locally abundant. In
Alaska – central Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. Elsewhere
– Bering Sea near Mednyi Island (Commander
Islands, Russia).
Habitat. In Alaska – forms dense fields almost completely
covering the seafloor in areas of bedrock, boulders,
and cobbles on steep slope habitat and at depths
between 80 and 269 m. Elsewhere – reported at depths
to 160 m.
Photos. 1) Specimen collected at a depth of 140 m
in the central Aleutian Islands. Grid marks are 1 cm 2 .
2) Same specimen as in photo 1 in situ with the gorgonian
Plumarella sp. (right). 3) Specimen observed in situ
at a depth of 92 m in the central Aleutian Islands.