''Ascandra contorta'' is a
species of
calcareous sponge
The calcareous sponges of class Calcarea are members of the animal phylum Porifera, the cellular sponges. They are characterized by spicules made of calcium carbonate in the form of calcite or aragonite. While the spicules in most species hav ...
belonging to the family
Clathrinidae.
This is a whitish sponge which appears as a mass of irregular, convoluted tubes. It is very similar to ''
Clathrina clathrus'' but usually differs in colour (''C. clathrus'' is usually yellow) and by the presence of terminal
oscula on vertical tubes (absent in ''C. clathrus''). When viewed microscopically, the
spicule structure of the two species is very different, ''A. contorta'' possessing two-pointed ''diactines'' and four-pointed ''tetractines'' as well as the three-pointed ''triactines'' which ''C. clathrus'' is exclusively made up of.
This sponge is found on north-eastern Atlantic coasts from the
Arctic to the
Mediterranean, usually on rocks at depths of 10–30 m, but occasionally in shallower water.
References
''Clathrina contorta'' at Marine Species Identification Portal
contorta
''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine ...
Taxa named by James Scott Bowerbank
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