External characters
semi-circular or irregularly-shaped fan, ~10–25 cm (h, w), ~5–10 mm (thick), frequently prostrate or curled over, attached along entire length of lamella.
Colour
mandarin orange (YR 6/10), mimosa yellow (Y 8/12) and bluish violet (P 6/6-5/6) exterior in life; dark reddish purple (RP 5/2) on deck; dark reddish purple in ethanol.
Skeletal Characters
| Oscules | ~0.5–1.0 mm wide, regularly distributed, on one surface. |
| Texture | elastic, compressible. |
| Surface_Ornamentation | prominent well spaced multiple conules, ~5–7 mm (h), ~3–8 mm apart; surface spikey; very smooth, fleshy between conules. |
| Ectosomal_Skeleton | ectosome of poral surface ~147–136 µm (deep), strongly collagenous, honey-combed with inhalant apertures ~62–135 µm (w); ectosome of oscular surface compact, ~50–170 µm (deep), heavily reinforced with collagen; choanocyte chambers large, oval or elongate; mesohyl heavily reinforced with collagen; collagen surrounds fibres as sheath. |
| Choanosomal_Skeleton | simple reticulation of fibres; fibres uniform, anastomosing, ~500–1500 µm (d), in net-like arrangement; primary fibres zig-zag in vertical plane, through plane of lamella, meshes diamond-shaped, ~10–15 × 1–5 mm wide; seconday fibres short, fine, ~200–500 µm (d), oriented diagonally across fan, only connect between few adjacent fibres, patchy in occurrence; dendritic spikes extend outwards from primary fibres, evident in lateral view, more pronounced on poral face; fibre pith occupies <75 % of fibre diameter, bark laminae charged with spongocytes in concentric array, often multiple pith elements surrounded by common bark layer; skeleton rigidity varies with robustness of fibres and degree of interconnection; also vary in degree of lateral ornamentation of fibres. |
| Megascleres | nil. |
| Microscleres | nil. |
| Mudmap_Author | Bergquist & Kelly-Borges, 1995 |
| Mudmap_Editor | K Hall |
Distribution
In French Polynesia: Tuamotu archipelago is.
Pacific Ocean: Ausrtalia, Solomon islands, Papua New Guinea
Ecology and habitat
Outer reef slope.
Bergquist & Kelly-Borges, 1995 (2014). QM2668 Ianthella reticulata Bergquist & Kelly-Borges, 1995. In: Hall, K.A. & Hooper, J.N.A. (2014) SpongeMaps: an online community for taxonomy and identification of sponges. (Available at http://www.spongemaps.org).
