126
WERNER BERGMANN
Illustrative of the importance of sterol analysis to the taxonomy and
phylogeny of sponges are the data derived from species of the orders
Hadromerina and Halichondrina. Among the Hadromerina three species
of the Choanitidae and two of Clionidae have afforded levorotatory
mixtures of poriferasterol and clionasterol in nearly equal proportions
(87). In significant contrast, nine species of Suberitidae were found to
contain dextrorotatory, saturated sterols as the major components of
their sterol mixtures. The sponges represented such different localities
and habitats as the coast of New England (Suberites ficus), the Mediterranean Sea (S. domuncula), Bermuda (Terpios fugax) and (Aaptos
bergmanni), Alaska (S. suberea), Hawaii (T. zeteki), and the great
depths of the Atlantic Ocean (Radiella sol, WeberelL· bursa and Polymastia infrapilosa). Cholestanol is the principal sterol of some of the
sponges, but in others its place is taken by aptostanol of as yet unknown structure. The predominance of saturated sterols in Suberitidae
suggests a sterol metabolism significantly different from that of sponges
belonging to other families of the order Hadromerina (87).
The usefulness of sterol analysis or of only the optical rotation of
the crude sterol in the classification of sponges is best illustrated by
the following example. The rather abundant Florida sponge, originally
named Suberites distortus or S. tuber culosus, was found not to contain
the saturated sterol with the positive rotation so typical of that family.
Instead it afforded the familiar mixture of the levorotatory poriferasterol
and clionasterol so typical of other families of this order. This purely
chemical evidence led to the conclusion that the sponge had been misnamed and assigned to the wrong family. Subsequent taxonomic studies
proved this conclusion to be correct and led to a reassignment of the
sponge to the family of Choanitidae under the name of AnihosigmeUa
varians (87).
In their sterol content, the Suberitidae show a much closer resemblance to two families of the order Halichondrina than to other
families of its own order Hadromerina. Three species of Hymeniacidonidae representing such different regions as the coast of North Carolina (Hymeniacidon heliophila), the English Channel (H. sanguinensis),
and Tasmania (H. perlevis) have all been found to contain cholestanol
(IV, R = A) as their principal sterol. The same is almost true for the
Halichondriidae. An unidentified species from the Attu Islands, Halichondria melanodocea from Florida, and the Japanese H. panicea (?)
(Reniera japonica) all contain cholestanol as their major sterol. The
common sponge of the coast of New England, H. bowerbanki originally
misnamed H. panicea, however, contains about 80% of cholesterol in its
WERNER BERGMANN
Illustrative of the importance of sterol analysis to the taxonomy and
phylogeny of sponges are the data derived from species of the orders
Hadromerina and Halichondrina. Among the Hadromerina three species
of the Choanitidae and two of Clionidae have afforded levorotatory
mixtures of poriferasterol and clionasterol in nearly equal proportions
(87). In significant contrast, nine species of Suberitidae were found to
contain dextrorotatory, saturated sterols as the major components of
their sterol mixtures. The sponges represented such different localities
and habitats as the coast of New England (Suberites ficus), the Mediterranean Sea (S. domuncula), Bermuda (Terpios fugax) and (Aaptos
bergmanni), Alaska (S. suberea), Hawaii (T. zeteki), and the great
depths of the Atlantic Ocean (Radiella sol, WeberelL· bursa and Polymastia infrapilosa). Cholestanol is the principal sterol of some of the
sponges, but in others its place is taken by aptostanol of as yet unknown structure. The predominance of saturated sterols in Suberitidae
suggests a sterol metabolism significantly different from that of sponges
belonging to other families of the order Hadromerina (87).
The usefulness of sterol analysis or of only the optical rotation of
the crude sterol in the classification of sponges is best illustrated by
the following example. The rather abundant Florida sponge, originally
named Suberites distortus or S. tuber culosus, was found not to contain
the saturated sterol with the positive rotation so typical of that family.
Instead it afforded the familiar mixture of the levorotatory poriferasterol
and clionasterol so typical of other families of this order. This purely
chemical evidence led to the conclusion that the sponge had been misnamed and assigned to the wrong family. Subsequent taxonomic studies
proved this conclusion to be correct and led to a reassignment of the
sponge to the family of Choanitidae under the name of AnihosigmeUa
varians (87).
In their sterol content, the Suberitidae show a much closer resemblance to two families of the order Halichondrina than to other
families of its own order Hadromerina. Three species of Hymeniacidonidae representing such different regions as the coast of North Carolina (Hymeniacidon heliophila), the English Channel (H. sanguinensis),
and Tasmania (H. perlevis) have all been found to contain cholestanol
(IV, R = A) as their principal sterol. The same is almost true for the
Halichondriidae. An unidentified species from the Attu Islands, Halichondria melanodocea from Florida, and the Japanese H. panicea (?)
(Reniera japonica) all contain cholestanol as their major sterol. The
common sponge of the coast of New England, H. bowerbanki originally
misnamed H. panicea, however, contains about 80% of cholesterol in its