Hymeniacidon kitchingi

Nicola Faulks Right try again!! LOL - Don't know what it is!

Nicola Faulks Id anyone?... About 4 cm tall, the strands broke easy and were spongy. Found on a wreck at 20m but tidal. So too fleshy to be Dyctyota dichotoma....

Paula Lightfoot is it a bryozoan? did you have good viz??

Nicola Faulks It would have to be the fleshiest most orange Securiflustra that I have ever seen!

Joanne Porter It looks more like a sponge than a bryozoan to me, did you see any lophophores?

Nicola Faulks my guess is sponge, it was fleshy....

Bernard Picton I'd guess Hymeniacidon kitchingi, that's the only species I know that grows tassels like this.

Nicola Faulks Is this a tentative first for the North east?..... Next time I dive I am going to take sample bottles with me! :-)

George Brown To supplement Becky's sponge photo from the Barge in Scapa Flow, Orkney. Bernard, is this also Hymeniacidon kitchingi? Many thanks.

Bernard Picton This might be Halichondria bowerbanki. It grows these tassels too. It is normally this colour. Habitat is right as well.

Becky Hitchin So how do we tell the difference because some of the kitchingi was a suspiciously similar colour?

Claire Goodwin Hack pieces off! :)

Becky Hitchin What about in a pic :D

Joanne Porter I was wondering if Claire Goodwin could confirm the identity of this tassel sponge. My first thought was Amphilectus but others are suggesting it might be a type of Halichondria?? We are seeing quite a bit of it in Scapa Flow.

Floris Bennema It looks like Halichondria bowerbanki that we find here in the Netherlands. But I m not Claire :-)

Claire Goodwin I'd probably go for that too Floris Bennema - with the usual caveats about id without a sample. However, Iophon hyndmani is another possibility http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=C6840). What depth Jo Joanne Porter?

Joanne Porter The depth can be 10-20m Claire Goodwin

Joanne Porter Can they be separated on spicules Claire Goodwin?

Bernard Picton Possibly Rhaphidostyla kitchingi? (Hymeniacidon kitchingi) It does this very thin tassel-like growth form. Spicules will help a lot Joanne.

Claire Goodwin Probably Joanne Porter! I wish sponges were easier to Id without samples. You'll just have to invite Bernard Picton and me up for a ground-truthing trip :)!

Becky Hitchin Can anyone shed some light on this sponge from Orkney? In situ photos and some (not brilliant) spicule photos. From in situ morphology, we've been putting forth Amphilectus fucorum and Halichondria panicea as probable IDs, and the "sponginess" of the sample we took the other day did feel like Halichondria. But when looking at the spicules, the majority of unbroken ones are tylostyles, sometimes with more complex bumps than just a single rounded ending. No microscleres. Bernard Picton, Jade Berman, any ideas? I'm going to try and get some sections of our sample tomorrow.

Bernard Picton I call this Hymeniacidon kitchingi.

Becky Hitchin Oooo. Even with tylostyles?

Bernard Picton I think so. Hymeniacidon species seem to get these irregular tylostyles - swellings but not on all the styles. They are rather pronounced in this one, but I need to take a look at a prep at work.

Becky Hitchin Thanks Bernard, thats really interesting, Joanne Porter and Rachel Shucksmith will be equally interested, I expect

Rachel Shucksmith that is interesting, if anybody wants anymore pieces removed we are diving here tomorrow and again next weekend....

Joanne Porter Exciting stuff Becky Hitchin better make sure we get that onto the seasearch forms.

Ross Bullimore Not even 100% sure i'm on the right page - but top right here - vaugley pink-y thing. Any ideas? apologies - not the best image - the incredible plankton bloom clear to see.

Claire Goodwin Well can confirm you are on the right page but beyond that I'm not sure. My best guess would be one of the white Haliclonas (fistulosa etc.) but it doesn't have the right processes (could be young bit?) and does have big oscules. As usual you really need a sample. Although Bernard may have some more ideas.

Claire Goodwin Hymeniacidon kitchingi another possibility (?)

Bernard Picton It could be overgrowing an alga. H. kitchingi does that...

Ross Bullimore Thanks guys...annoyingly its another one of those that I didn't acknowledge at the time to even consider sampling. Only really noticed it in the photos.