description; being an unpublished thesis from which the complete description was made, it is not taxonomically valid as to have priority. Agelas clathrodes (Schmidt, 1870) Fig. 14 Etymology from Greek, meaning lattice, grate. Chalinopsis clathrodes Schmidt, 1870: 60; Topsent, 1920a, p. 22. Ectyon flabelliformis Carter, 1883, p. 311, pl. 11, Fig. 1, la (in part: paralectotype only BMNH 1884.4.14.4). Ectyon sparsus Gray sensu Carter, 1882a: 281 (Antigua. Two hypotypes mentioned, five present: CLM Sp. 24, registered BMNH 39.3.24.45; Sp. 23, 26, both registered BMNH 39.3.24.57; Sp. 25, registered BMNH 39.3.24.58; Sp. 30, not registered); Carter, 1883: 312 (in part: only BMNH 1842.12.21.40, with Carter's 'No. 462', West Indies, ex Bowerbank collection). Agelas clathrodes ; Wiedenmayer, 1977: 131 (in part, Figs. 139C-D, pl. 28 Fig. 12; USNM 30218, USNM 30129, 0719); Collette & Rützler, 1977: 309; Bakus & Thun, 1979: 418; George & George, 1979: 45; Colin, 1978: 86, Fig. pg. 60; van Soest, 1981: 32; Gómez- López & Green, 1984: 81, Figs. 21-22; Wintermann-Kilian & Kilian, 1984: 132; Pulitzer- Finali, 1986: 110, Fig. 32; van Soest & Stentoft, 1988: 98, Fig. 47; Humann, 1992: 52, Figs. P. 52, 53; Gammill, 1997: 7, Figs. 8, 20, 26, 31, 34, 94; Lehnert & van Soest, 1996: 63, Fig. 53; Lehnert & van Soest, 1998: 81, Lehnert & van Soest, 1999: 154; Assmann, 2000: 37, pl. 5, Figs. B-E; Valderrama, 2001: 48; Gómez, 2002: 74; Erpenbeck et al. 2007: 1564. [Non: Agelas clathrodes ; Wiedenmayer, 1977: 131 (in part) B279-280 (= A . sventres ); van Soest, 1981: 10 (= A .citrina ); Álvarez & Díaz, 1985: 90, Fig. 26 (= A .citrina ); Hoppe, 1988: 120, Fig. 2 C. as A. clathrodes 'flabelliform' (= A .citrina ); Kobluk & van Soest, 1989: 1210 (= A. citrina ); Erhardt & Moosleitner, 1997: 80 (= A. sventres )]. ?Agelas rudis Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864: 76, pl. 15, Fig. 2, St. Thomas, no type material is extant (see van Soest et al ., 1983: 197). Material and distribution Holotype revised, deposited in the Zoologisk Museum København; it was collected off Caracas without any further information. The material reviewed here includes (but is not restricted to) specimens from The Bahamas (INV-POR 934), Belize (INV-POR 960), Rosario Islands (INV-POR 968, see also Zea, 1987), Jamaica (INV-POR 996), San Andres Island (INV-POR 982, see also Zea, 1987 from Old Providence) and Santa Marta (INV-POR 991, see also by Wintermann-Kilian and Kilian, 1984). 61 A B C D E F Figure 14. Photographs of A. clathrodes . A) Holotype from Caracas, B) fan shape specimen from The Bahamas, C) encrusting specimen Belize and D) key- holes in a San Andres Island specimen, E) the Author sit on a big specimen at Rosario Islands and F) fouled coal covered specimen Santa Marta, Colombia. All specimens collected in reefs of Curaçao and Barbados were provisionally labelled A. ?clathrodes or A. ?citrina , but later they where identified as A. citrina . Although A. clathrodes may be absent from shallow locations of Barbados, Van Soest & Stentoft (1988) collected two specimens from 108-135 m; those specimens (ZMA-POR 5355, 5356) were examined by us and clearly belong to A. clathrodes ; other specimens present at ZMA include Los Roques (Venezuela, ZMA-POR 5325) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (ZMA-POR 8551); previous works (including accounts by Wiedenmayer, 1977 and Zea, 1987) have reported the species also from Yucatán (Gómez López & Green, 1984; Gómez, 2002), U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic (Pulitzer-Finali 1986), Florida Keys and the Bahamas (Gammill, 1997; Assmann, 2000), Gulf of Urabá in Colombia (Valderrama, 2001), Gulf of México (Veracruz, Gómez, 62 2002), Dominican Republic (Weil, 2006) and several areas of Brazil (G. Muricy, pers. comm. ); from the above, we consider A clathrodes a Tropical Northwestern Atlantic species (see also Gammill, 1997). Our specimens were found from 7 m to 38 m in depth, abundant between 23 and 30 m. Description The shape of this species can be flabellated (Fig 14B), fan-shaped (with a narrow base) or, commonly, it can have an ear-like shape (Fig 14D) with rounded or lobate margins, sometimes converging into a vase (Fig 14E). When juvenile, specimens tend to fill crevices (Fig 14C, 14F) or to be lobate (Fig 14A). Erect specimens are 10-60 cm tall by 15-100 cm wide and 6-30 cm thick; several enormous ear-like specimens observed at Rosario Islands easily surpassed 1 m in diameter, and we observed a few of about 2-3 m (Fig 14E). The external color varies from scarlet (NGC-14), flame scarlet (NGC-15) to chrome orange (NGC-16); internal color spectrum orange (NGC-17), orange yellow (NGC-18) to warm buff (NGC-118); sometimes the channels or unexposed areas have a lighter color. Dermis rests on tracts of spicules protruding from main fibres; sometimes channels, oscules or dense walls from the skeleton are visible under the dermis. Numerous openings with different shapes: circular 1-10 mm, elongated (key hole-like) 2-4 cm; here and there, several elongated openings could join together in a large aperture 3-8 cm wide. On the side opposite to the main current flow, the openings usually are covered by a dermis, sometimes transparent, or otherwise white or slightly colored. Its consistency is toughly compressible but flexible in life, a little harder when dry or preserved. Choanosome is very cavernous, lined by a bright endodermis; walls (0.2-3 cm) are dense and firm. Caverns and internal channels are not very wide (0.4-2 cm), strongly interconnected between them and to the openings. Reticulate skeleton with cored (0-6) an echinated primary fibres, 40-105 µm in diameter; secondary and tertiary fibres 20-75 µm in diameter, also echinated but less than primaries. The acanthostyles have 3-8 spines per whorl, are more or less uniform in size, straight, and shorter than any other Agelas species; length 55 - 248 (113 ± 38.9) µm, width 2 - 17 (8 ± 2.9) µm and 4 - 23 (10 ± 2.9) whorls per spicule. Detailed lengths, widths and average number of whorls are shown in Table 4. 63 Remarks Based on the form, size of spicules, diameter of the fibres and spicule architecture, we assign Pulitzer-Finali’s (1986) Agelas sp3 to A. clathrodes . This species is commoner in deeper reef zones than in shallow ones. It is more frequent in Rosario Islands and Santa Marta, than in San Andrés Island, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize. Although there are confirmed records of A. clathrodes for SE Caribbean reefs (Curaçao, Venezuela, Barbados), it appears to be quite scarce there, where it has been confused with flabellated Agelas citrina (see Álvarez & Díaz, 1985). Gigantic growth forms were found in Rosario Islands (Fig. 11E) , not only for this species but also for many other sponges, on the southern shelf slope with a high input of suspended organic matter. When large and flabellated, this species is distinguished from flabellated A. citrina by the thicker and more slack and curled skin of the latter; when both are orange, the color of A. citrina is milkier. See A. citrina remarks. When smaller, A. clathrodes can be easily confused with A. sventres , especially with the football- shaped or crevice-filling specimens of the former. In the field, A. sventres lobed or rounded specimens are distinguished by having scattered round oscules with a collar-like membrane, which are altogether absent in A. clathrodes . The mark of A. clathrodes is the shorter spicules with complete and regular rows of spines; this character could be used with some confidence to separate this species from other bright orange Agelas such as A. citrina (longer spicules), A. schmidti and A. sventres (slightly longer spicules, incomplete irregular rows of spines). Agelas schmidti Wilson, 1902 Fig. 15 The species was named to honour Oscar Schmidt, a German spongologist. Agelas schmidti Wilson, 1902: 398; Hechtel, 1969: 17; van Soest & Stentoft, 1988: 102, Fig. 50; Lehnert & van Soest, 1998: 81; Lehnert & van Soest, 1999: 156; Muricy et al. 2006: 116; Mothes et al. 2007: 86. ?Agelas schmidti ; Wintermann-Kilian & Kilian, 1984: 132. [Non: Agelas schmidti ; Wiedenmayer, 1977: 130, Fig. 137, pl. 27, Fig. 1; Zea, 1987: 210, Fig. 76, pl. 12, Fig. 9; Gammill, 1997: 43, Fig. 42; Erpenbeck et al. 2007: 1564 (= A. wiedenmayeri )]. 64 Agelas sventres ; Valderrama, 2001: 51, Fig. 17. [Non: Agelas sventres Lehnert & van Soest, 1996 (a valid species)]. Material and distribution Holotype not revised (but see remarks), deposited at National Museum of Natural History (USMN 7683) collected on 1899 at Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, depth 37-42 m. The material reviewed here includes (but is not restricted to) the Bahamas (INV-POR 936), Belize (INV-POR 956), Rosario Islands (INV-POR 961), Jamaica (INV-POR 1000), Morrocoy (Venezuela, SZ-PVENEZ-4), Santa Marta (INV-POR 872), and Gulf of Urabá (INV-POR 539, see Valderrama, 2001). Previous works have reported the species also from Barbados (Hechtel, 1969; van Soest & Stentoft, 1988), Jamaica (Lehnert & van Soest 1998; 1999), Dominican Republic (Weil, 2006) and Brazil (Mothes et al. , 2007). The authors observed but not collected this species it in the west of San Andres Island hanging under rocks in shallow waters. From the above, we consider A. schmidti a Tropical Northwestern Atlantic species (but see remarks). Our specimens were found from 1 m to 38 m in depth, abundant between 15-21 m. Description This species typically forms repent (Fig 15D), long, sometimes branched, cavernous cylinders (Fig 15A), 1-2 cm in diameter (sometimes up to 5 cm) and up to 20-40 cm long; ends can be lobed or tube-like (Fig 15B); lobes are generally wider than their supporting cylinders or bases; lobes are usually rather cavernous and fluffy, with dermis stretched over widely spaced supporting elevations.