(No common name)

ORDER

Lychniscosida

FAMILY

Aulocystidae

TAXONOMY

Myliusia grayi Bowerbank, 1869, Saint Vincent, West Indies.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

None known.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Hemispherical; grows to 4.7 in (12 cm) in diameter. Composed of a network of branching and fusing tubules, 0.10–0.24 in (3–6 mm) in diameter. Skeletal frame of tubule wall consists of two to five layers of six-ray spicules fused into a rigid lattice. Intersections of this framework have 12 supporting struts and are called lantern nodes.

DISTRIBUTION

Gulf of Mexico and West Indies.

HABITAT

Attached by cementation to hard bottom at depths of 348–4,536 ft (106–1,383 m).

BEHAVIOR

Nothing is known.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Presumably filter feeds.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Nothing is known.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not listed by the IUCN.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

The first and most well known of the few surviving members of the order Lychniscosida, a once dominant reef-building group during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.