Appearance
Lamellate, azure-violet sponge, with differentiated inhalant and oscular faces. Skeleton is a regular reticulum of primary and secondary fibres, with superficial brushes hispidating the surface; megascleres are straight and sinuous oxeas. Microscleres are sigmas.The sponge is a thin, irregular, folded lamina, attached to the substrate in few points; its rim is more or less rounded, not regular. The largest observed specimen is approximately 8 × 4 cm long and 2 mm thick. The colour in life is azure-violet in the part exposed to light and beige on the shadowed side. The sponge becomes white-bluish when dried. Consistence soft, slightly elastic. The aspect of the two sides of the laminar sponge is different: roundish vents, 700–1,300 µm in diameter, most probably acting as oscula, are concentrated on the excurrent side; on the opposite side, a thin dermal membrane, pierced by numerous pores, covers several smaller apertures, not visible to the naked eye.
Naming
The name refers to the lamellate shape of the sponge.Distribution
Niphates rowi is the species most similar to the new species but is located in the Red Sea.N. laminaris has been described as a new species found in North Sulawesi.
References:
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https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/12135/element/7/theonellidae/(Figure 8)
