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Scientific Name: Corvospongilla caunteri
English Name: Freshwater sponge
Local/Bangla Name: Sadupanir sponge(স্বাদুপানির স্পঞ্জ )
sponge : Corvospongilla caunteri

Photo: Natural History Museum

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Order: Spongillida
Family: Spongillidae
Description:
The body surface of Corvospongilla caunteri is smooth and features a well-developed, sturdy basal membrane. The sponge forms thin and extensive encrustations, and its skeleton is reticulate, although it is poorly formed and lacks spongin. Oscula are inconspicuous and surrounded by shallow, indistinct radiating furrows. The consistency of the sponge is moderately hard but brittle. The sponge exhibits a bright green to pale yellow coloration due to the presence of unicellular algae, Zoochlorellae, residing in its tissues. The megascleres in Corvospongilla caunteri are slightly curved, with both ends pointed, smooth, and stout. Their length and width range from 0.17-0.27 mm and 0.01-0.02 mm, respectively. Microscleres are feebly curved and birotulates with a smooth shaft. The terminal hooks are relatively short and recurved. Their length varies from 0.25-0.35 mm, and the diameter of rotules is 8-10 µm. The spicules of the gemmule, known as gemmoscleres, are slightly curved and slender, typically amphistrongyla. They exhibit a slight curvature and irregular spines, with a length and width range of 43-51 µm and 10-12 µm, respectively. Gemmules are spherical to somewhat depressed and are free in the lower parts of the inner symplasm. They possess a thick pneumatic coat composed of small air spaces. Below the pneumatic layer lies a single layer of gemmoscleres arranged parallel to the gemmule. The foramen is either depressed or slightly raised, forming a rather bent tube.
Habitat & Distribution in Bangladesh:
It prefers lotic water habitats and can be found in running streams and rivers, on the surface of submerged rocks or on any hard substratum as periphyton. The species reproduces both asexually by gemmule formation and sexually.
Environment:
Freshwater
Main References:

Kabir SMH, Ahmad M, Ahmed ATA, Rahman AKA, Haque EU, Ahmed ZU, Begum ZNT, Hassan MA, Khondker M (2008) Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh, Vol 14. Protozoa- Gastrotricha Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka: 335 pp

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