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

39. Hemigellius porosus (Fristedt, 1887)
Description. This sponge is massively encrusting and
very fragile. Surface is smooth to the unaided eye but
microscopically hispid. No oscula are visible. Fristedt
(1887) described this species as forming irregular
knolls, 9 cm in longest dimension. Color in life is whitish
yellow to creamy white.
Skeletal structure. It has an irregular unispicular or
paucispicular mesh of oxeas (250–340 × 9–11 µm) and
stigmata (40–60 µm).
Zoogeographic distribution. Widespread but uncommon.
In Alaska – Bering Sea (Zhemchug Canyon). Elsewhere
– North Pacific Ocean (Sea of Okhotsk and Sea
of Japan), Arctic Ocean (Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev
Sea), North Atlantic Ocean (West of Spitzbergen, East
of Greenland, Denmark Strait, Davis Strait, Gulf of St.
Lawrence, between Iceland and the Faroe Islands).
Habitat. In Alaska – attached to cobbles at a depth of
909 m. Elsewhere – reported at depths between 68 and
256 m.
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Photo. 1) Fragments of specimen collected at a depth
of 909 m in Zhemchug Canyon, Bering Sea.