Chondrocladia, the ping pong ball sponges, is a genus of carnivorous tree sponges of the family Cladorhizidae. Neocladia was long considered a junior synonym, but has recently become accepted as a distinct genus.
Thirty-three named species are placed in this genus at present, but at least two additional undescribed ones are known to exist, while some of the described ones are known only from a few specimens or (e.g. the enigmatic Chondrocladia occulta) just a single one, and their validity and/or placement in Chondrocladia is doubtful. Chondrocladia sponges are stipitate, with a stalk frequently anchored in the substrate by rhizoids and an egg-shaped body, sometimes with branches that end in inflatable spheres.
Fossils assignable to this genus are known since the Pleistocene, less than two million years ago. However, given its deep sea habitat, Chondrocladia may well have been around for much longer – it existed perhaps as early as the Mesozoic Era, as characteristic spicules (termed "microcricorhabds" or "trochirhabds"), almost identical to those of some living Chondrocladia, are known from Early Jurassic rocks almost two hundred million years old.
Carnivory These sponges gained media attention when a new species, a gourd-shaped carnivorous sponge, was featured in reports of finds off the coast of Antarctica. The new Chondrocladia was one of seventy-six sponge species identified in the seas off Antarctica by the Antarctic Benthic Deep-Sea Biodiversity Project (ANDEEP) between 2002 and 2005, conducted aboard the German research vessel Polarstern.
Carnivorous sponges, which use hooked spicules to capture small crustaceans, have been known only since 1995, when Asbestopluma hypogea, another genus of the family Cladorhizidae, was identified in Mediterranean sea caves offshore La Ciotat (France) by Jean Vacelet and Nicole Boury-Esnault. Carnivory has since turned out to be common and typical for this sponge family. Unlike their relatives, Chondrocladia still possesses the water flow system and choanocytes typical of sponges, albeit highly modified to inflate balloon-like structures that are used for capturing prey.
Species The known species of Chondrocladia are:
Chondrocladia albatrossi Tendal, 1973 Chondrocladia amphactis (Schmidt, 1880) Chondrocladia antarctica Hentschel, 1914 Chondrocladia arenifera Brøndsted, 1929 Chondrocladia asigmata Lévi, 1964 Chondrocladia burtoni Tendal, 1973 Chondrocladia clavata Ridley & Dendy, 1886 Chondrocladia concrescens (Schmidt, 1880) Chondrocladia crinita Ridley & Dendy, 1886 Chondrocladia dichotoma Lévi, 1964 Chondrocladia fatimae Boury-Esnault & Van Beveren, 1982 Chondrocladia gigantea (Hansen, 1885) Chondrocladia gracilis Lévi, 1964 Chondrocladia grandis (Verrill, 1879) Chondrocladia guiteli Topsent, 1904 Chondrocladia koltuni Vacelet, 2006 Chondrocladia lampadiglobus Vacelet, 2006 – Ping-pong tree Sponge Chondrocladia latrunculioides Lopes, Bravo & Hajdu, 2011 Chondrocladia levii Cristobo, Urgorri & Ríos, 2005 Chondrocladia lyra Lee et al., 2012 Chondrocladia magna Tanita, 1965 Chondrocladia latrunculioides Lopes, Bravo & Hajdu, 2011 Chondrocladia multichela Lévi, 1964 Chondrocladia nani Boury-Esnault & Van Beveren, 1982 Chondrocladia nicolae Cristobo, Urgorri & Ríos, 2005 Chondrocladia occulta (Lehnert, Stone & Heimler, 2006) Chondrocladia pulvinata Lévi, 1964 Chondrocladia rogersi Hestetun, Rapp & Xavier, 2017 Chondrocladia robertballardi Cristobo, Rios, Pomponi & Xavier, 2015 Chondrocladia saffronae Goodwin, Berman, Downey & Hendry, 2017 Chondrocladia schlatteri Lopes, Bravo & Hajdu, 2011 Chondrocladia scolionema Lévi, 1993 Chondrocladia stipitata Ridley & Dendy, 1886 Chondrocladia tasmaniensis Vacelet, Kelly & Schlacher-Hoenlinger, 2009 Chondrocladia turbiformis Vacelet, Kelly & Schlacher-Hoenlinger, 2009 Chondrocladia vaceleti Cristobo, Urgorri & Ríos, 2005 Chondrocladia verticillata Topsent, 1920 Chondrocladia virgata Thomson, 1873 (type species) Chondrocladia yatsui Topsent, 1930
An undescribed species of Chondrocladia was observed off Montagu Island in the Southern Ocean; it has been dubbed the "death-ball sponge" by the media.
C. alaskensis and C. pulchra are better placed in Crambe or Monanchora.
C. dura, C. ramosa and C. sessilis are junior synonyms of Iotrochota purpurea.
C. flabelliformis is now in Neocladia.
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