Form: Thin crust.

Colour: Pale yellow.

Smell: N/A

Surface: Slightly uneven surface with long spicules projecting through the dermis.

Apertures:

• Oscules are slightly transparent and slightly raised and surrounded by converging oscular channels.

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Internal characters

Skeleton: The main skeleton consists of acanthostyles with their heads embedded in a basal membrane. The large acanthostyles form bundles consisting of 4 or 5 spicules surrounded by large numbers of smaller acanthostyles. The dermal styles rest upon the projecting bundles of large acanthostyles.

Spicules: Megascleres are acanthostyles of two sorts and dermal styles. The small acanthostyles have a well-marked head with large spines and the shaft has reclined spines along its length and are 140 x 8 μm. In the large acanthostyles the head is not pronounced and fine spination is present only on the head and along a short portion of the shaft close to the head, they are 1800 x 22 μm. The dermal styles are long and almost straight, the blunt end is swollen with very fine spines, they measure 400–850 μm in length by 5–7 μm in diameter. Microscleres are isochelae of two sorts and toxa of two sorts. The chelae are very distinctive, the smaller chelae measure 14–16 μm and have a rounded projection on hte inside of the shaft. The larger chelae are very unusual and are ring-shaped, measuring 15–16 μm in length. The large toxa vary considerably in length from 45–300 x 0.5–4 μm. The smaller toxa are 6–12 x 1–2 μm.

Identity: This species is readily identified by the distinctive ring-shaped chelae.

Distribution Map from NBN: Clathria elliptichela at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Clathria elliptichela at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

WoRMS: Clathria elliptichela at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Clathria (Microciona) elliptichela (Alander, 1942). AphiaID: 167637.

Classification: Biota; Animalia; Porifera; Demospongiae; Heteroscleromorpha; Poecilosclerida; Microcionidae; Microcioninae; Clathria