(Bowerbank, 1858)

Species Overview

Biemna variantia (Bowerbank, 1858) is a thickly to massively encrusting beige sponge with a rough, uneven surface and soft, friable consistency. Several flush oscules may be seen scattered across the surface. It is widespread in the British Isles, along the NW coast of France, and to the north, especially in deeper habitats, although it may occasionally occur intertidally under boulders.

Taxonomic Description

Colour: Beige, occasionally yellow.
Shape, size, surface and consistency: Encrusting, becoming a thick cushion (e.g. 1-1.5 cm thick by 7 cm diameter; thickest at the centre and tapering to the edge). It can grow into cup-like or lamellate forms when mature. Surface uneven (Biemna variantia MCS2) with conulose projections, due to the ends of spicule fibres supporting the surface, rather like Dysidea. Larger specimens may have a distinctly "lumpy" or shaggy appearance (Desmacidon peachii Bwbk) due to development of surface projections. Several oscules, scattered across the upper surface of the sponge, seen as dark holes in surface. Inhalant pore areas are obvious between conulose projections when seen alive. Consistency very soft and friable. Smell none.
Spicules:(Biemna variantia spics) (Hymeniacidon variantia spics) Megascleres are styles: 360-(580)-700 µm, abruptly bent near the rounded end.
Microscleres are sigmas of two size categories: ca. 50-70 µm and ca. 10-20 µm; microxeas and raphides, grading into each other: ca. 63-165 µm, gathered loosely into trichodragmata; commas: 10-20 µm, which are like small, halved sigmas. These microscleres are very numerous and are easily lost from the sponge and so may contaminate samples of other species if put together into the same container.
Skeleton: Plumose. Stout multispicular fibres (of styles), branching and anastomosing, ascend through the sponge and support the surface. Tissue is packed with abundant microscleres. Minimal amounts of spongin are present.
Ecology: On vertical surfaces with moderately strong water movement. At Hake Island, Sherkin Island, SW Ireland, on underside of boulders; on mud, gravel, stones. Tolerant of brackish conditions in Daucleddau estuary, Milford Haven, W Scotland.
Distribution: Arctic-boreal, south to ca. 40°N. Mostly recorded from deep water (down to 1608 m), although type locality (Tenby) was intertidal. Recorded recently from Strangford Lough, Lough Hyne, Sherkin Island, Blaskets (Ireland), Skomer(Wales), Milford Haven (Scotland), Guernsey. If synonymy is correct then it occurs also off the coast of East Greenland, down to 250 m.
Etymology: The name refers to the varied spicule complement.
Type material: The type is in the Natural History Museum, London, BMNH 1877.5.21.2112, St Katherine’s Rocks, Tenby, Mrs Brett, 1854.

Remarks

The appearance is quite characteristic but a check of the spicules is necessary for confirmation. In the present concept of the species inclusion of high arctic specimens which tend to have styles up to 1500 µm long is tentatively accepted (various "species" of Lundbeck, 1902 are thus considered synonyms). This species has had a chequered taxonomic history and a revision may decide that its name has been too severely compromised and has to be changed.
Source: Ackers et al., 1992 (Editors B.E. Picton, D. Moss, S.M. Stone).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera
Subphylum Cellularia
Class Demospongiae
Order Poecilosclerida
Suborder Mycalina
Family Desmacellidae
Genus Biemna
Species Biemna variantia

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Biemna variantia (Bowerbank, 1858)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Halichondria variantia n.sp. Bowerbank, 1858: 327; Bowerbank, 1861a: 69.
Hymeniacidon variantia: Bowerbank, 1866: 174; Bowerbank, 1874: 84, 113, pls. XXXIII fig. 14, XLV figs. 32-34
Hymeniacidon varians (sic): Bowerbank, 1882: 85.
Desmacidon peachii n.sp. Bowerbank, 1866: 276; Bowerbank, 1874: 163, pl. LXIII figs 1-7; Bowerbank, 1882: 173.
Biemna peachii: Gray, 1867: 538; Topsent, 1913: 50, pl. IV fig. 3.
Asychus variantia: Gray, 1867: 539.
Desmacidon korenii n.sp. Schmidt, 1875: 117
Desmacella peachii var. stellifera n. var. Fristedt, 1885: 29, pl. II fig. 10.
Gellius capilliferus n.sp. Levinsen, 1886: 357, pl. XXX figs 7-10.
Desmacella peachii var. groenlandica n. var. Fristedt, 1887: 441, pl. 24 figs. 38-45, pl. 28 fig. 14
Desmacella capillifera: Lundbeck, 1902: 88, pl. XVI fig. 1.
Desmacella peachii : Lundbeck, 1902: 90, pl. IV figs 10-13, pl. XVI fig. 2.
Desmacella hamifera n.sp. Lundbeck, 1902: 93, pl. VII figs. 4-6, pl. XVII fig. 1.
Desmacella groenlandica: Lundbeck, 1902: pl. VI fig. 14, pl. VII fig. 7, pl. XVII fig. 2.
Desmacella variantia: Lundbeck, 1902: 98.
Biemna variantia: Thiele, 1903: 380; Burton, 1930a: 499, 522; Burton, 1931: 4; Brøndsted, 1932: 6; Topsent, 1932: 2; Arndt, 1935: 54, fig. 95; Alander, 1942: 66; Koltun, 1959: 96; Descatoire, 1966: 241, fig. 5B; Descatoire, 1969a: 192; Borojevic et al., 1968: 18; Van Soest and Weinberg, 1980: 4, fig. 5; Van Soest et al., 1981: 41; Ackers et al., 1985: 100, fig. 77; Solórzano, 1991: 31;
?Biemna corrugata: Stephens, 1912: 26 (not Halichondria corrugata Bowerbank)
Biemna variantia capillifera: Koltun, 1959: 97, fig. 52.
Biemna variantia groenlandica: Koltun, 1959: 98, fig. 53.
Desmacella variantia papillifera n.var. Koltun, 1958: 54.
Biemna variantia papillifera: Koltun, 1959: 99.

Further synonyms quoted by Arndt, 1935:
Amphilectus korenii
Biemna korenii
Biemna peachi var. stellifera
Desmacodes peachi
Raphiodesma aculeatum

Ackers, R.G., D. Moss, B.E. Picton and S.M.K. Stone, 1985. Sponges of the British Isles ("Sponge IV"). II. Marine Conservation Soc., Ross on Wye, U.K.: 108-197.

Ackers, R.G.A., D. Moss and B.E. Picton, 1992. Sponges of the British Isles ("Sponge V"), a colour guide and working document. Marine Conservation Society, 175 pp.

Alander, H., 1942. Sponges from the Swedish west-coast and adjacent waters. Thesis Lund Univ., 95 pp., 16 pls.

Arndt, W., 1935. Porifera. Tierwelt Nord.-Ostsee, IIIa: 1-140, figs. 1-239.

Borojevic, R., L. Cabioch and C. Lévi, 1968. Spongiaires. Inventaire Faune Marine de Roscoff. 44 pp.

Bowerbank, J.S., 1858. On the anatomy and physiology of the Spongiadae. Part I. Phil. Trans. roy. Soc. London, 1858: 279-332.

Bowerbank, J.S., 1861a. List British Marine Invertebrate fauna. British Association. p. 69

Bowerbank, J.S., 1866. A monograph of the British Spongiadae, II. Ray Society, London: i-xx, 1-388.

Bowerbank, J.S., 1874. A monograph of the British Spongiadae, III. Ray Society, London: i-xvii, 1-367, pls. I-XCII.

Bowerbank, J.S., 1882. A monograph of the British Spongiadae, IV. Ray Society, London. xvii, 250 pp., 17 pls.

Brøndsted, H.V., 1932. Marine Spongia. The Zoology of the Faroes, 1 (1, III): 1-34.

Burton, M., 1930a. Norwegian sponges from the Norman collection. Proc. zool. Soc. London, 2: 487-546.

Burton, M., 1931a. The Folden Fiord. Report on the sponges collected by Mr. Soot-Ryven in the Folden Fiord in the year 1923. Tromsø Mus. Skr., 1 (13): 1-8.

Descatoire, A., 1966. Sur quelques Démosponges de l'Archipel de Glénan. Cah. Biol. Mar., 7: 231-246.

Descatoire, A., 1969a. Peuplements sessiles de l' Archipel de Glénan. I. Inventaire: Spongiaires. Vie Milieu, (B) 20(1,B): 177-210.

Fristedt, K., 1885. Bidrag till kännedomen om de vid sveriges vestra kust lefvande spongiae. K. svensk. Vet.-Akad. Handl., 21 (6): 1-56.

Fristedt, K., 1887. Sponges from the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean and the Behring Sea. Vega Exped., vetensk. Arbeten, 4: 403-471, pls. 22-31.

Gray, J.E., 1867. Notes on the arrangement of sponges, with the description of some new genera. Proc. zool. Soc. London, 1867: 492-558, 2 pls.

Koltun, V., 1958. Kremnerogovie gubki (Cornacuspongida) rayona jushnych Kurilskych ostrovov i vod, omyvayznych jushnych Sachalin. Isledovanya dalynevstochnych morey SSSR, 5: 42-77.

Koltun, V.M., 1959. [The Cornacuspongida of the northern and far-eastern seas of the USSR. Keys to the fauna of the USSR]. Akademia Nauk, Moscow, Leningrad, 236 pp., XLII pls.

Schmidt, O., 1875. Nordsee Expedition, 1872. II. Spongien. Jahresber.Comm. Unters. Meeres,1875: 115-120

Soest, R.W.M. van, and S. Weinberg, 1980. A note on the sponges and octocorals from Sherkin Island and Lough Ine, Co. Cork. Irish Nat. J., 20: 1-15.

Soest, R.W.M. van, J.D. Guiterman and M. Sayer, 1981. Sponges from Roaringwater Bay and Lough Ine. J. Sherkin Isl., 1 (2): 35-49.

Solórzano, M.R., 1991. Inventario dos Poríferos do litoral galego. Cadernos de Area de Ciencias Biolóxicas. Inventarios, 7: 1-53.

Stephens, J., 1912. Marine Porifera of the Clare Island Survey. Proc. roy. Irish Acad., 31 (59): 1-41.

Thiele, J., 1903. Beschreibung einiger unzureichend bekannten monaxonen Spongien. Arch. Naturgesch., 67 (1): 375-398.

Topsent, E., 1932. Remarques sur des Éponges de l'estuaire de la Rance. Bull. Lab. St. Servan, 8: 1-7.

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