Axinella polypoides
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Porifera
- Class: Demospongiae
- Order: Axinellida
- Family: Axinellidae
- Genus: Axinella
- Species: Axinella polypoides
Visual Description
Axinella polypoides (“common antlers sponge”) is typically depicted as an erect, branching sponge with antler-like projections. Individuals commonly form a bushy, multi-pronged shape where multiple rounded to tapering lobes arise from a thicker basal portion. Reported images often show a pale tan to light brown coloration.
Distribution and occurrence
GBIF treats Axinella polypoides (Schmidt, 1862) as an accepted species and records it under the vernacular name “common antlers sponge”.
Genetics and connectivity
A population-genetic study in Scientific Reports (2025) investigates genetic connectivity between mesophotic and shallow-water populations of Axinella polypoides.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Dataset view for Animalia / Porifera / Demospongiae / Axinellida / Axinellidae / Axinella / polypoides constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.