Agelas Explained

Agelas is a genus of sea sponge in the class Demospongiae.

Ecology and distribution

Members of this genus are filter feeders. and occur in the West Indies, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean in shallow tropical and subtropical waters^[1] down to a depth of or exceptionally .

Spicules

Some authorities report that the spongin fibres contain no coring spicules while others report that there are some of variable length.^[2] Fernando Parra-Velandia however, describing the Caribbean species in the group, writes that "The presence of verticillated acanthostyle spicules and a fibroreticulate skeleton of spongin fibres cored and/or echinated by spicules characterize this group."^[1]

Species

The World Register of Marine Species includes the following species in the genus:

Notes and References

1. Parra-Velandia . Fernando J. . Zea . Sven . Van Soest . Rob W. M. . Reef sponges of the genus Agelas (Porifera: Demospongiae) from the Greater Caribbean . Zootaxa . 2014 . 3794 . 3 . 301–343 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3794.3.1 .
2. Hoshino, Takaharo . 1985 . Description of two new species of the genus Agelas (Demispongia) from Zamari Island, the Ryukyus, Japan . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Japan . 30 . 1–10 .