Polymastia gleneni is a sponge with a cushion-shaped base covered with short rounded
nipples and reaching 10 to 50 cm in diameter. Its colour varies from pink to purplish pink, nipples being paler.
Pink tit-sponges are attached to rocks, they are often covered with sand and only the outgrowths emerge from it.
It is recorded in the North-Western part of the English Channel and in the Atlantic. Its known distribution
goes from the Iles Glénan (South-Brittany, West of France) to Roscoff (English Channel). A close species
(perhaps a similar one) is recorded in the Mediterranean Sea: Aaptos papillata.
Aaptos papillata is a species similar to Polymastia gleneni. If these two sponges prove to be just one single species, the name of the species "papillata", which was first given, would have priority.
Phylum Porifera, class Demospongiae, order Hadromerida, family Polymastiidae, Polymastia gleneni (Be cautious, this classification may be out of date).
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Photograph: © Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with author's kind permission.
Polymastia gleneni, Iles Glénan, South-Brittany, West of France. Depth 16 meters.
Text: Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat © 2004-2008.
Translation: Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007-2008.
