Morphological description (show/hide)
| massive, repent, QM G304689 (holotype) ~20 cm long, 3 cm thick and 6 cm wide, loosely attached to coral substrate, body as series of bulbous expansions from each of which one or two erect tapering oscular fistules arise | | greyish white in water | | cream in ethanol | | ~2�5 mm (d), flush with surface, also on tips of fistules | | firm, crisp, just compressible | | conulose, conules regularly-spaced, low, ~0.5�1 mm (h), with rounded rather than pointed tips, surface crust sandy, well-developed, up to 1 mm thick, with papery texture | | fibrous, loose irregular network of primary and secondary fibres, primary fibres cored, form columns in which fibres twine, branch and interlock, columns stout, fasciculate, up to 700 �m (d), secondary fibres irregularly arranged, 30�50 �m (d), mainly cored, very few clear of debris, collagen filaments very dense, fine, ~3�5 �m (d), terminate with spherical knobs, debris extraneous to fibres occurs only in subdermal region | | sandy cortical crust, up to 1 mm deep, underlying region of lacunae formed by exhalant canals, choanocyte chambers spherical, 20�30 �m (d), collagen deposition light throughout | | nil | | nil |
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