Cedro Et Al.2007 Demospongiae of the Coral Reefs of Maceio

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233Porifera r esearch : B iodiversity , i nnovation and s ustainaBility - 2007

Introduction

Sponges are among the most important components of coralreef benthic communities, frequently exceeding hermatypiccorals in diversity and biomass. Each species’ abundanceand distribution within a coral reef sponge community is

related to biotic and abiotic parameters such as recruitment,spatial competition, luminosity, sedimentation and substratetype (Wiedenmayer 1977, Zea 1987, Díaz and Rützler 2001,Rützler 2002, Valderrama and Zea 2003).

Brazil has a large coastline, with a faunistic componentwhich is still poorly studied in general, and Porifera standsout as one of the least studied taxa. Very few coastal statesin Brazil have a well-known sponge fauna (e.g. Hajdu et al .1996, 1999, Muricy and Silva 1999), and comprehensiveknowledge of species distributions, habitat requirements,reproduction and all sorts of ecological interactions arevirtually unknown for the entire coast.

The taxonomy of marine sponges of north-eastern Brazil(geographic north-east – coastal states Bahia to Ceará; notregional, geopolitical north-east – coastal states Bahia toMaranhão) has been the focus of a very few studies, andeven fewer described species from Alagoas, mostly fromdeep-waters. The latter date back to the H.M.S. ‘Challenger’expedition, three collecting stations having been set off thestate of Alagoas (st. 122b, 122c, 123). The species reportedfrom this material were Cacospongia levis (Poléjaeff, 1884)and Stelospongus longispinus Duchassaing and Michelotti,1864 [= Ircinia strobilina (Lamarck, 1816)], reported byPoléjaeff (1884); Pheronema carpenteri Schulze, 1887,reported by Schulze (1887); and Geodia neptuni (Sollas, 1886)

[= Geodia vosmaeri (Sollas, 1886)] and Thenea fenestrata (Schmidt, 1880), reported by Sollas (1888). Further studiesreporting on sponges of the north-eastern Brazilian coastwere those of de Laubenfels (1956; without descriptions),Johnson (1971; essentially based on beach worn material),Boury-Esnault (1973), Hechtel (1976; without descriptions,

1983) and Sarmento and Correia (2002; without descriptions),among others. The high diversity of sponges on the Braziliannorth-eastern coast has been best illustrated by Boury-Esnault(1973), Muricy and Moraes (1998) and Muricy et al. (2006),and of north-eastern Brazilian oceanic islands by Mothes andBastian (1993) and Moraes et al. (2006). Sarmento and Correia(2002) reported the nding of 17 species of demosponges onPonta Verde coral reef (Maceió, AL), and correlated these todifferent habitat types. The present study reports on spongeassemblages found in four shallow urban reef areas of Maceió(Alagoas State, north-eastern Brazil).

Materials and methods

Four sampling areas were chosen: (1) Pajuçara reef (9º41’00.27’’S / 35º43’19.78’’W; Fig. 1A, 2A), (2) Piscinados Amores (9º40’09.24’’S / 35º42’14.16’’W; Fig. 1B, 2B),(3) Ponta Verde (9º39’56.87’’S / 35º41’44.98’’W; Fig. 1C,2C) and (4) Jatiúca reef (9º39’14.56’’S / 35º41’50.05’’W;Fig. 1D, 2D), in a SW - NE sequence. Distances were 2300m between (1) and (2), 2000 m between (2) and (3) and1200 m between (3) and (4). Collections were made in theyears 2004 and 2005 by wading at low tide and snorkelling.Live specimens were observed underwater, and whenever

possible photographed. Each specimen was individually

Demospongiae (Porifera) of the shallow coral reefsof Maceió, Alagoas State, BrazilVictor Ribeiro Cedro (1), Eduardo Hajdu (2), Hilda Helena Sovierzosky (1) , Monica Dorigo Correia (1*)

(1) Setor de Comunidades Bentônicas, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de [email protected], [email protected]

(2) Museu Nacional, Departamento de Invertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. [email protected]

Abstract: Sponges occurring at Alagoas State reefs, in north-eastern Brazil, are poorly known. This work reports on the spongesof Maceió coral reefs, the state´s capital. A total of 29 species were identi ed so far. These were Agelas dispar , Amphimedon aff. complanata, A. viridis, Biemna microacanthosigma, Chalinula molitba, Chondrilla aff. nucula, Chondrosia collectrix,Cinachyrella apion, C. alloclada, Cliona aff. celata, C. varians, Dragmacidon reticulatum, Dysidea etheria, Echinodictyumdendroides, Geodia corticostylifera, G. papyracea, Haliclona curacaoensis, H. manglaris, H. melana, Iotrochota birotulata,

Ircinia strobilina , Mycale diversisigmata, Niphates erecta, Placospongia aff. melobesioides, Scopalina ruetzleri, Spirastrellacoccinea, S. hartmani, Tedania ignis and Tethya sp. The numbers of species in each station varied from 16 to 24. Mycalediversisigmata is a rst record for the southern Atlantic. These preliminary results indicate the occurrence of a moderately richsponge fauna at the Maceió reef’s area, arguing for stricter control on human impact on these urban reefs.

Keywords: Alagoas, Demospongiae, coral reef, SW Atlantic



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packed and xed in ethanol 70% soon afterwards. Somespecimens collected earlier (2001) and deposited in theMNRJ (Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio deJaneiro – Porifera collection) and UFALPOR (Setor deComunidades Bentônicas/Universidade Federal de Alagoas – Porifera collection) collections were also analyzed. Voucher specimens for each species studied are listed in Table 1,although not for every locality sampled. A complete list of localities sampled and collected specimens is available fromthe authors upon request.

A semi-quantitative estimation of sponge abundance has been applied to each station considered, and consisted of theexhaustive compilation of visual records achieved on at least

ve full low-tide periods (between 2001 and 2006). Thesewere written down immediately after leaving the samplinggrounds when incoming rising tide forced a complete stopin the observations. Sponges were classi ed into dominant,common and rare. A fourth category, absent, has been addedafter comparison of data compiled from the four stations, andincludes only those species found in at least one station.

Specimens were identi ed by eld observations andmorphometry of the skeletal architecture. Microscopicslides of dissociated spicules and thick sections were madefollowing the standard methods described by Hooper and vanSoest (2002). A few specimens were further studied throughscanning electron microscopy.

Results and discussion

A total of twenty-nine sponge species were identi ed(Table 1), comprising ten orders and nineteen families.The Haplosclerida, with seven species, was the richestorder, followed by the Hadromerida, with six, and thePoecilosclerida, with ve.

The numbers of species found in each station variedfrom 16 in the Piscina dos Amores to 24 at Ponta Verdereef. This difference is likely to re ect the more extensivesampling at Ponta Verde, an easily accessible reef, coupledwith its possession of a large sciaphilic and slightly eutrophicenvironment, where sponges constitute the dominant benthictaxon. Amphimedon viridis (Fig. 2E) was the sole speciesobserved to be very common on all four sampled areas, thuscon rming once more its abundance along the Braziliancoastline. The species has been previously reported ascommon along the south-eastern Brazilian coast (Muricy et al. 1991, Hajdu et al. 1999). Cinachyrella alloclada (Fig.2F) was very common on three areas, and Chondrilla aff.nucula, Cliona aff. celata, C. varians, Haliclona manglaris

(Fig. 2H) , H. melana , Tedania ignis (Fig. 2G) and Tethyasp. on two stations only. Of these, all but H. manglaris were previously known to be common on distinct sectors of theBrazilian coastline (Muricy et al. 1991, Klautau et al. 1999,Muricy and Ribeiro 1999, Lazoski et al. 2001). Cinachyrellaapion, Iotrochota birotulata and Spirastrella coccinea wereall rare and each species was found in a single station. Mycalediversisigmata is a rst record for the southern Atlantic. Tethya sp. is probably a new species and needs a formal description.

Twenty-one out of the 28 species found are distributed inthe Caribbean area too (e.g. Pulitzer-Finali 1986, van Soest et al . 2007), which indicates a marked Tropical western Atlanticaf nity of the Maceió reefs’ sponge fauna. Only three speciesfound are provisional Brazilian endemics, viz. Echinodictyumdendroides, Biemna microacanthosigma and the likely newspecies of Tethya . Four species have widespread disjunctdistributions and entitle for a morphogenetic revision study(Chondrilla aff . nucula, Chondrosia collectrix, Cliona aff .celata, Placospongia aff . melobesioides ).

Only 12 species reported here were listed for theneighbouring state of Pernambuco by Muricy and Moraes(1998), viz. Agelas dispar, Amphimedon viridis, Chondrilla aff. nucula (as Chodrilla nucula ), Chondrosia collectrix, Clionavarians (as Anthosigmella varians ), Dragmacidon reticulatum(as Pseudaxinella reticulata ) , Geodia corticostylifera, Geodia

papyracea, Ircinia strobilina, Scopalina ruetzleri, Spirastrellacoccinea and Tedania ignis. The similarity has not been foundto be higher, probably because the reef strata sampled were

Fig. 1: Map showing the location of Maceió (north-eastern Brazil)and the collecting stations analysed in this study. A. Pajuçara coralreefs. B. Piscina dos Amores coral reef. C. Ponta Verde coral reef. D. Jatiúca coral reef. Scales: 400 km in map, 10 km in inserts. Maceió’surban area is shaded.

Fig. 2: Aerial views of the collecting localities, showing the reefsat low or nearly low tide, and some of the commonest speciesof demosponges found. A. Pajuçara coral reefs. B. Piscina dosAmores coral reef. C. Ponta Verde coral reef. D. Jatiúca coralreef. E-H. Ponta Verde scyaphilic habitat. E. Amphimedonviridis . F. Cinachyrella alloclada (predominantly). G. Tedaniaignis . H. Haliclona manglaris . Scales: 2 cm (E, G, H) and 4 cm(F).



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different. Muricy and Moraes (1998) focused mainly on thesubtidal, while the data presented here were gathered in theintertidal. No sponge species has been hitherto recorded fromthe coast of Sergipe State, the adjacent state on the south,which is a clear sampling gap. On the other hand, most of the

species reported upon here also occur on Brazilian oceanicislands, as well as in the State of Bahia, further south (Moraeset al. 2006, Peixinho et al. unpubl. res.).

These results, albeit preliminary, indicate the occurrenceof a moderately rich demosponge assemblage in the Maceió

Taxa

Coral reefsPajuçara Piscina dos

AmoresPonta Verde Jatiúca

Agelas dispar Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 (MNRJ 10294) - Agelasida ● Amphimedon viridis Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 (MNRJ 9033 ; UFAL/

POR 0027) - Haplosclerida●●● ●●● ●●● ●●●

Amphimedon aff . complanata Duchassaing, 1850 (MNRJ 4713) - Haplosclerida ● ●● ● Biemna microacanthosigma Mothes, Hajdu, Lerner & van Soest, 2004 (UFAL/

POR 0043) - Poecilosclerida ●

Chalinula molitba (de Laubenfels, 1949) (UFAL/POR 0042) - Haplosclerida ● ● ●●● ●Chondrilla aff . nucula Schmidt, 1862 (MNRJ 3146; UFAL/POR 0049) -

Chondrosida●● ●● ●●● ●●●

Chondrosia collectrix (Schmidt, 1870) (MNRJ 10279) - Chondrosida ●● ●Cinachyrella alloclada (Uliczka, 1929) (MNRJ 10292; UFAL/POR 0004) -

Spirophorida●●● ●● ●●● ●●●

Cinachyrella apion (Uliczka, 1929) (MNRJ 10290) - Spirophorida ●Cliona aff. celata Grant, 1826 (MNRJ 4650) - Hadromerida ●●● ● ●●● ●●Cliona varians (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) (MNRJ 3151) - Hadromerida ●●● ●●● ●●

Dragmacidon reticulatum (Ridley & Dendy, 1886) (MNRJ 10283;UFAL/POR 0053) - Halichondrida

● ●●

Dysidea etheria de Laubenfels, 1936 (UFAL/POR 0021) - Dictyoceratida ●● ●● Echinodictyum dendroides Hechtel, 1983 (MNRJ 4711; UFAL/POR 0025) -

Poecilosclerida ● ●

Geodia corticostilyfera Hajdu, Muricy, Custódio, Russo & Peixinho, 2002(MNRJ 10274) - Astrophorida

● ● ●●

Geodia papyracea Hechtel, 1965 (MNRJ 10285;UFAL/POR 0046) -Astrophorida

● ●

Haliclona curacaoensis van Soest, 1980 (MNRJ 10280; UFAL/POR 0040)- Haplosclerida

●● ●● ●●● ●●

Haliclona manglaris Alcolado, 1984 (MNRJ 10289) - Haplosclerida ●● ●● ●●● ●●● Haliclona melana Muricy & Ribeiro, 1999 (MNRJ 10277; UFAL/POR 0041)

- Haplosclerida●● ●● ●●● ●●●

Iotrochota birotulata (Higgin, 1877) (MNRJ 10291) - Poeciloclerida ● Ircinia strobilina Lamarck, 1816 (MNRJ 4717; UFAL/POR 0017) -

Dictyoceratida ●●

Mycale diversisigmata van Soest, 1984 (MNRJ 4639) - Poecilosclerida ● ● Niphates erecta Duchassaing. & Michelotti, 1864 (MNRJ 10287) -

Haplosclerida● ● ● ●●●

Placospongia aff. melobesioides Gray, 1867 (MNRJ 4724) - Hadromerida ●● ●● ● ●●Scopalina ruetzleri (Wiedenmayer, 1977) (MNRJ 10281) - Halichondrida ●● ●Spirastrella coccinea (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864) (MNRJ 4629) -

Hadromerida ●

Spirastrella hartmani Boury-Esnault, Klautau, Bézac, Wulff & Solé-Cava,1999 (MNRJ 10286; UFAL/POR 0002) - Hadromerida

● ● ● ●

Tedania ignis (Duchassaing. & Michelotti, 1864) (MNRJ 10293; UFAL/POR 0031) - Poecilosclerida

●●● ●● ●●● ●●

Tethya sp. (MNRJ 4712) - Hadromerida ●● ● ●●● ●●●

Total of species 17 16 24 24

Table 1: Occurrence and semi-quantitative estimation of abundance of the Maceió reef’s sponge fauna. Legend: ●●● (Dominant); ●●(Common); ● (Rare); (Absent).



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intertidal coral reef areas. The new records found on theseshallow urban reefs demonstrate the lack of comprehensivefaunistic and taxonomic surveys of the benthic fauna of Alagoas coral reefs.

Maceió has a population quickly approaching 10 6 citizens.Findings presented here advise for stricter control on humanimpact on these shallow water urban reefs, some of whichare usually visited at low tide by hundreds of people (localcollectors of sea-food and tourists). The collected dataincrease signi cantly the knowledge concerning the spongerichness of Alagoas state coral reefs.

Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to Alvaro Borba Junior (LABMAR/UFAL) for helping in the eld trips. Marcia Atthias and Noemia Gonçalves(Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho/UFRJ) kindly providedaccess to, and technical assistance on SEM operation. CNPq,FAPEAL and FAPERJ are thanked for the provision of grants and/or fellowships.

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Cedro Et Al.2007 Demospongiae of the Coral Reefs of Maceio