Berlengas Islands Nature Reserve Field Guide
The Berlengas Islands Nature Reserve includes a group of rocky islands near the western coast of Portugal and their surrounding waters. This guide aims to help the curious and the visitor alike enjoy this unique place, with its rarities and endemisms.
Sea potato
Echinocardium cordatum, or the sea potato, is a sea urchin in the family Loveniidae. It is found in sub-tidal regions in temperate seas around the world and lives buried in the sandy sea floor.
Purple sea urchin
Paracentrotus lividus is a species of sea urchin in the family Parechinidae commonly known as the purple sea urchin. It is the type species of the genus and occurs in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Sphaerechinus granularis
Sphaerechinus granularis is a species of sea urchin in the family Toxopneustidae, commonly known as the purple sea urchin. Its range includes the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Halichondria
Halichondria is a genus of marine demosponges belonging to the family Halichondriidae. These are massive, amorphous sponges with clearly separated inner and outer skeletons consisting of bundles of spicules arranged in a seemingly random pattern. This genus of sponges became important through the discovery of cell division limiting properties of the extract Halichondrin B, which ...more ↓
Sulphur Boring Sponge
Cliona celata, occasionally called the Red Boring Sponge, is a species of demosponge belonging the family Clionaidae. It is found worldwide. This sponge creates round holes up to 5 cm in diameter in limestone or the shells of molluscs, especially oysters. The sponge itself is often visible as a rather featureless yellow or orange lump at the bottom of the hole.
