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

118 Professional Paper NMFS 12
98. Bubaris vermiculata (Bowerbank, 1866)
Description. This sponge is encrusting, elongated, foliate
or lobate. Consistency is soft with a hispid surface.
Dimensions are to 15 cm 2 . Color in life is bright red to
golden brown.
Skeletal structure. It has characteristic axinellid spicule
tracts. Styles are 426–4550 × 10–38 µm; strongyles
and oxeas are irregularly curved or distorted (208–588
× 6–15 µm).
Zoogeographic distribution. Widespread and locally
common. In Alaska – central Aleutian Islands. Elsewhere
– Arctic Ocean (Barents and Greenland Seas),
North Atlantic Ocean (Norwegian Sea to the Azores),
and Mediterranean Sea.
Habitat. In Alaska – encrusts mudstone, cobbles, and
pebbles at depths between 165 and 888 m. Elsewhere –
reported at depths between 9 and 1360 m.
Remarks. This is the same species as Axinella vermiculata
sensu Koltun, 1959.
Photos. 1) Specimen (center) collected with the
gorgonian Plumarella aleutiana at a depth of 165 m in
the central Aleutian Islands. Grid marks are 1 cm 2 .
2) Specimen (right) collected on mudstone at a depth
of 888 m in the central Aleutian Islands.