Discodermia is a genus of deep-water sea sponge.
Species
The following species are accepted within Discodermia:
- Discodermia adhaerens <small>Van Soest, Meesters & Becking, 2014</small>
- Discodermia arbor <small>Carvalho & Xavier, 2020</small>
- Discodermia aspera <small>Carter, 1880</small>
- Discodermia calyx <small>Döderlein, 1884</small>
- Discodermia claviformis <small>Kieschnick, 1896</small>
- Discodermia discifera <small> (Lendenfeld, 1907) </small>
- Discodermia discifurca <small>Sollas, 1888</small>
- Discodermia dissoluta <small>Schmidt, 1880</small>
- Discodermia dubia <small>Vacelet & Vasseur, 1971</small>
- Discodermia emarginata <small>Dendy, 1905</small>
- Discodermia gorgonoides <small>Burton, 1928</small>
- Discodermia inscripta <small> (Schmidt, 1879) </small>
- Discodermia interspersa <small>Kumar, 1925</small>
- Discodermia irregularis <small>Hoshino, 1976</small>
- Discodermia japonica <small>Döderlein, 1884</small>
- Discodermia jogashima <small>Tanita & Hoshino, 1989</small>
- Discodermia kellyae <small>Carvalho & Xavier, 2020</small>
- Discodermia kiiensis <small>Hoshino, 1977</small>
- Discodermia koreana <small>Sim, 1982</small>
- Discodermia laevidiscus <small>Carter, 1880</small>
- Discodermia natalensis <small>Kirkpatrick, 1903</small>
- Discodermia ornata <small>Sollas, 1888</small>
- Discodermia panoplia <small>Sollas, 1888</small>
- Discodermia papillata <small>Carter, 1880</small>
- Discodermia polydiscus <small> (Bowerbank, 1869) </small>
- Discodermia polymorpha <small>Pisera & Vacelet, 2011</small>
- Discodermia proliferans <small>Lévi & Lévi, 1983</small>
- Discodermia ramifera <small>Topsent, 1892</small>
- Discodermia sinuosa <small>Carter, 1881</small>
- Discodermia stylifera <small>Keller, 1891</small>
- Discodermia tuberosa <small>Dendy, 1922</small>
- Discodermia vermicularis <small>Döderlein, 1884</small>
- Discodermia verrucosa <small>Topsent, 1928</small>
Pharmacology
D. dissoluta is of interest to bio and organic chemists because it produces (+)-discodermolide, a polyketide natural product with immunosuppressive and cancer killing properties.
Antimicrobial/anticancer peptides called discodermins have been isolated from D. kiiensis.
References