Growth form irregular, massive; usually less than 10 cm in diameter, sometimes up to 15-20 cm in diameter and 2-3 cm in height. Colour in vivo (generally also preserved specimens) light grey to white; several, slightly perceptible, tone
are possible (light green to light brown). Consistency soft and fragile. Surface, shared by all species of the genus, as an irregular network of dense collagen fibres, sometimes with mineral debris. Inhalant apertures 80-120
in diameter. Oscules scattered (2-4 mm in diameter). Light collagen amount (fibrous reticulate) in the mesohyl. Flagellate chambers large. Skeleton reticulate, with irregular meshes (300-600
<bibRefCitationid="D5806D5A1DDA0D1252ADAE5DABC47915"author="Vacelet, J"journalOrPublisher="Recueil des Travaux de la Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="1 - 101"title="Repartition generale des eponges et systematique des eponges cornees de la region de Marseille et de quelque station Mediterranee."volume="26"year="1959">Vacelet 1959</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="A0D1A5DD85BD1F51912E28A418CF460C"author="Sara, M"journalOrPublisher="Annuario dell'Istituto e Museo di Zoologia dell'Universita di Napoli"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="1 - 32"title="Zonazione dei Poriferi nella Grotta " della Gaiola "."volume="13"year="1961 a">
<bibRefCitationid="8D4F23B5DAD3C654E19A75AC88BC6B2B"author="Sara, M"journalOrPublisher="Chiara"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="191 - 215"title="Distribuzione ed ecologia dei Poriferi in acque superficiali del Golfo di Policastro (Mar Tirreno). Annali del Pontificio Istituto Superiore di Scienze e Lettere S."volume="12"year="1962">1962</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="B93ECDDD4E4D2F329E60EA0FCC9B2556"author="Sara, M"journalOrPublisher="Archivio Zoologico Italiano"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="181 - 248"title="Distribuzione ed ecologia dei Poriferi in acque superficiali della Riviera ligure di Levante."volume="49"year="1964 a">1964a</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="208E0CE8781A2E39BAB1F06E7201594E"author="Labate, M"journalOrPublisher="Chiara"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="319 - 342"title="Poriferi di grotta superficiale del litorale adriatico pugliese. Annali dell'Istituto Superiore di Scienze e Lettere S."volume="14"year="1964">Labate 1964</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="311CC932D450F5E2677827F462CAE590"author="Labate, M"journalOrPublisher="Italian Journal of Zoology"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="541 - 553"title="Ecologia dei Poriferi della Grotta della Regina."volume="32"year="1965">1965</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="04202B1F18589617A5BCEE24A2499EE1"author="Boury-Esnault, N"journalOrPublisher="Vie Milieu"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="287 - 349"title="Spongiaires de la zone rocheuse littorale de Banyuls-sur-Mer. II. Systematique."volume="22"year="1971">Boury-Esnault 1971</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="3DA57C16E74FA62269001AFF14886290"author="Pulitzer-Finali, G"journalOrPublisher="Pubblicazioni della Stazione Zoologica di Napoli"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="83 - 104"title="Report on a collection of sponges from the Bay of Naples. II Keratosa."volume="40"year="1976">Pulitzer-Finali and Pronzato 1976</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="1426D81F058FDAEAD2520C3FD26F3F75"author="Pulitzer-Finali, G"journalOrPublisher="Bollettino dei Musei e degli Istituti di Biologia dell'Universita di Genova"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="7 - 89"title="Report on a collection of sponges from the Bay of Naples. III. Hadromerida, Axinellida, Poecilosclerida, Halichondrida, Haplosclerida."volume="44"year="1977">Pulitzer-Finali 1977</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="2AFF5AD30D9796D5D8163E0EDD449568"author="Bibiloni, MA"journalOrPublisher="Marine Ecology"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="317 - 334"title="Sponge communities in three submarine caves of the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean): adaptation and faunistic composition. P. S. Z. N."url="10.1111/j.1439-0485.1989.tb00076.x"volume="10"year="1989">1989</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="36666F7988DB3AE57CB9154DB8FAA666"author="Ben Mustapha, K"journalOrPublisher="Bulletin de l'Institut National Scientifique et Technique d'Oceanographie et de Peche de Salammbo"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="23 - 36"title="Tunisian megabenthos from infra (Posidonia meadows) and circalittoral (coralligenous) sites."volume="29"year="2002">Ben Mustapha et al. 2002</bibRefCitation>
<bibRefCitationid="3BBD8D7239FB05508D8445DBBCB041D5"author="Gerovasileiou, V"journalOrPublisher="PLOSone"pageId="48"pageNumber="49"pagination="1 - 17"title="Marine Caves of the Mediterranean Sea: A Sponge Biodiversity Reservoir within a Biodiversity Hotspot."url="10.1371/journal.pone.0039873"volume="7"year="2012">Gerovasileiou and Voultsiadou 2012</bibRefCitation>
. a massive specimen (ca. 3 cm in diameter) with an apical osculum; b, c reticulate skeletal network and irregular meshes of primary and secondary fibres with scanty spongin (LM).