| Word: Accretive Description: Regularly anisotropic reticulation with ascending (primary and radial) fibers or tracts and interconnecting fibers or tracts about equal in thickness Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Accessory spicule Description: A category of megasclere echinating the primary skeleton. See ECHINATING SPICULE. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
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| Word: Accretive Description: Regularly anisotropic reticulation with ascending (primary and radial) fibers or tracts and interconnecting fibers or tracts about equal in thickness Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Alveolate Description: Skeleton arranged around choanosomal cavities Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Anastomosing (= reticulate) Description: Tracts, lines, or fibers are interconnected Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Anisotropic skeleton Description: Reticulate skeleton with primary and secondary tracts, lines, or fibers Synonyms: Chalinid skeleton Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Axial skeleton Description: A type of skeletal organization in which some components are condensed to form a central region or axis Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Axinellid skeleton Description: Structure with a dense core of parallel fibers or strands fanning out toward the periphery of a sponge See also PLUMOSE or PLUMORETICULATE. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Bark Description: The dense area of compacted spongin surrounding the central zone in pithed fibers Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Basal spongin plate Description: A spongin layer covering the substratum Synonyms: Basal lamina Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Bouquet Description: Ectosomal brush of spicules perpendicular to the surface of the sponge, with pointed ends outward. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Choanosomal skeleton Description: Skeleton of the main body, supporting the canal system and responsible for the form of the sponge. Synonyms: Endosomal skeleton , main skeleton , primary skeleton , principal skeleton Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Choristid (= astrophorid) Description: Predominantly radiate, occasionally confused arrangement of megascleres including triaenes with cladome outward, lacking spongin, and commonly with a cortex. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Clathrate skeleton Description: Polyhedral arrangement of fibroreticulate sheets Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Clathriid skeleton Description: Isodictyal or subisodictyal arrangement of fibers cored and/or echinated by styles in the family Microcionidae Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Collagen fascicle Description: A dense band of intercellular collagen fibrils, which has a skeletal role in some sponges (e.g., genus Chondrosia) Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Compound (= fasciculate, trellised) fiber Description: Several fibers merged or intricately interconnected Synonyms: Fasciculate fiber , fibrofascicle , trellised fiber Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Confused skeleton Description: Irregularly positioned megascleres. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Cored fiber Description: A fiber that incorporates indigenous spicules or foreign material (spicules and sediment); coring may be light and limited to a central axis or may fill in the whole fiber Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Cortex Description: A superficial region of a sponge reinforced by a special organic or inorganic skeleton Synonyms: Crust Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Cortical skeleton Description: Ectosomal skeleton reinforced by a layer of special skeleton elements. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Cuticle Description: A spongin layer covering the surface or a part of the surface of a sponge. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Dendritic skeleton Description: A skeleton consisting of single or ramifying fibers or tracts that branch but rarely anastomose (tree-like branching) Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Dendroreticulate fiber skeleton Description: Ambiguous, to be rejected. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Echinating spicule Description: Megasclere that protrudes from the spon gin plate, a fiber, or a spicule tract Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Ectochrote Description: Outer layer of the cortex Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Ectosomal skeleton Description: Skeleton found in the superficial region of a sponge, distinct from that of the choanosome. Synonyms: Dermal skeleton , ectosomal crust Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Extra-axial skeleton Description: Structurally distinct skeleton arising from or surrounding an axial region Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Fiber (or fibre) Description: A column (strand, thread) of spongin forming a reticulate or dendritic skeleton, with or without indige nous spicules or foreign material. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Fibroreticulate Description: Forming a net composed of fibers. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Halichondrioid skeleton Description: Confused skeleton except at the surface; choanosomal skeleton may be in vague tracts Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Hispidation Description: Spicules projecting through the pinacoderm. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Homogeneous fiber Description: A fiber without central pith and without conspicuous layers Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Hymedesmioid (= leptoclathriid) skeleton Description: Skeleton of encrusting sponge where monactine megascleres are arranged singly with heads fixed to a basal plate of spongin and points directed outward Synonyms: Leptoclathriid Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Interstitial (= auxiliary) spicule Description: Free choanosomal spicule not included in tracts or fibers, common in subectosomal skeleton Synonyms: Auxiliary spicule Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Irciniid filament Description: Long, slender (0.5-15 urn thick) spongin element, terminally knobbed; intertwined or free in the sponge body Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Isodictyal reticulation Description: Isotropic reticulation in which the meshes are triangular and have sides one spicule long Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Isotropic reticulation Description: Reticulation without differentiation into primary or secondary fibers, tracts, or lines. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Laminated (= stratified) fiber Description: A fiber in which concentric layers are visible Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Lax (= loose, vague) skeleton Description: Skeleton lacking clear tracts or fibers Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Line of spicules Description: Unispicular tract Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Lipo- Description: Prefix meaning without. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Lithistid skeleton Description: Main skeleton consisting of an interlocked assemblage of desmas Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Microcionid Description: Structure of microcionid sponges in which spicules project from an elevation of the basal plate of spongin Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Multispicular fiber (tract) Description: Fiber or tract composed of six or more spicules adjacent to one another. Synonyms: Plurispicular , polyserial , polyspicular Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Node Description: Junction of spicule tips cemented by spongin. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Palisade Description: Perpendicular arrangement of ectosomal spicules, with points directed outward Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Paratangential skeleton Description: Arrangement of ectosomal spicules intermediate between the palisade and tangential type Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Parchment Description: Tangential ectosomal skeleton in which the megascleres are arranged in a tight feltwork Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Paucispicular fiber (tract) Description: Fiber or tract with two to five megascleres adjacent to one another Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Pith Description: Central area of a fiber made up of more or less diffuse wisps of collagen or of a coarsely granular collagen material. See PITHED FIBER. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Pithed fiber Description: A fiber in which pith is easily distinguished from the surrounding bark. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Plumoreticulate skeleton Description: A type of plumose skeletal construction in which cross-connections occur Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Plumose skeleton Description: A type of skeletal construction made of primary fibers or spicule tracts from which skeletal elements radiate obliquely Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Primary (= main, ascending) fiber Description: An ascending fiber ending at a right angle to the surface Synonyms: Longitudinal fiber/tract , ascending fiber/tract/line Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Primary spicule Description: The major structural megasclere in any particular sponge. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Radiate skeleton Description: A type of skeleton in which the structural components diverge from a central region toward the sponge surface Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Reticulate skeleton Description: Three-dimensional network of fibers, tracts, lines, or single spicules. Synonyms: Renieroid skeleton Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Secondary (= connecting) fiber Description: In a reticulate skeleton, a fiber that links the primary fibers. Synonyms: Connective tracts, lines, fibers Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Skeleton Description: All structures supporting and protecting the sponge body. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
No image available. | Word: Spiculation Description: General term for spicule complement. Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
 | Word: Spicule Description: A component of the mineral skeleton, typically composed of silica or calcium carbonate Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Spiculoid (= spongin spicule) Description: A spongin component of the skeleton that has the form of a diactinal, triactinal, or polyactinal spicule Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Spongin Description: Skeletal substance in Demospongiae made up of collagen microfibrils of ~10 fim diameter. Synonyms: Collagen Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Sublithistid skeleton Description: Skeleton consisting of a loose assemblage of desmas Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Tangential skeleton Description: Ectosomal skeleton arranged parallel to the surface (figure shows upper right, view from the top). Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Tertiary fiber Description: In a reticulate skeleton, a fiber interconnecting the secondary fibers Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Tract Description: A column of aligned megascleres (figure shows two types of tract). Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |
| Word: Unispicular fiber, tract Description: A single aligned row of megascleres Category: Architecture of the Skeleton of Demospongiae |