Mycale laxissima   (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864)

Strawberry vase sponge

Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Mycale laxissima  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Demospongiae | Poecilosclerida | Mycalidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Reef-associated; brackish; depth range 2 - 61 m (Ref. 108813).  Tropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Western Central Atlantic: West and East Africa.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm Max length : 50.0 cm H male/unsexed; (Ref. 415)

Short description Morphology

Tubular to globular, solitary or in clusters, thin-walled; 1 - 2 cm, up to 50 cm tall. Large pseudoscule with transparent membrane; 3 - 6 cm wide. Dark wine red to black. The surface is spiny. Tough but compressible. Releases sticky mucus released when squeezed (Ref. 415). Massive crusts no more than 5 cm thick. Low, massive lobate; one or few cups or tubes may arise from a common mass. Surface with single or compound large spine-like conules producing creases or irregular lumps; usually covered by an iridescent whitish dermal membrane. Color varies from black to dark blue to purple or reddish purple with blue tinges. May also be orange to scarlet or cream and rose with cinnamon tones or dark purple fibers with iridescent patches (Ref. 85482).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Reefs, mangrove peat banks, occasionally on roots (Ref. 415). Association: with two algae Ostreobiium constrictum Lucas a Chlorophyta, Acrochetum spongicolum Webervan Bosse, Rhodophyta) (Ref. 415), and an amphipod Leucothoe ubouhu living within the sponging fibers of M. laxissima was found among Belizean specimens (Ref. 82302).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Members of the class Demospongiae are hermaphroditic. Life cycle: The zygote develops into parenchymella larva (free-swimming) before settling down on a substrate where it grows into a young sponge.

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Collin, R., M.C. Díaz, J. Norenburg, R.M. Rocha, J.A. Sánchez, M. Schulze, A. Schwartz and A. Valdés. 2005. (Ref. 415)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless

Human uses


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FAO areas
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Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Common names
Synonyms
Predators
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Morphology
Larvae
Abundance
References
Mass conversion
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Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 24.2 - 28, mean 26.8 (based on 202 cells).
Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Moderate vulnerability (40 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.