''Halichondria'' is a genus of

sea sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and are o ...

s 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 Cell division is the process by which a parent cell (biology), cell divides into two daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle in which the cell grows and replicates its chromosome(s) before dividing. In eukar ...

limiting properties of the extract Halichondrin B, which inhibits cell

mitosis Mitosis () is a part of the cell cycle in eukaryote, eukaryotic cells in which replicated chromosomes are separated into two new Cell nucleus, nuclei. Cell division by mitosis is an equational division which gives rise to genetically identic ...

. The drug Eribulin, a related compound and an inhibitor of

microtubule Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nanometer, nm and have an inner diameter bet ...

function, has become an important

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

treatment for certain types of cancer.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus ''Halichondria'': * Subgenus ''Eumastia'' Schmidt, 1870 ** '' Halichondria attenuata'' (Topsent, 1915) ** '' Halichondria maraensis'' Kim & Sim, 2009 ** '' Halichondria schmidti'' Dendy, 1895 ** '' Halichondria sitiens'' (Schmidt, 1870) * Subgenus ''Halichondria'' Fleming, 1828 ** '' Halichondria adelpha'' de Laubenfels, 1954 ** '' Halichondria agglomerans'' Cabioch, 1968 ** '' Halichondria aldabrensis'' Lévi, 1961 ** '' Halichondria almae'' (Carballo, Uriz & García-Gómez, 1996) ** '' Halichondria arenacea'' Dendy, 1895 ** '' Halichondria arenosa'' Hentschel, 1929 ** '' Halichondria axinelloides'' Swartschewsky, 1906 ** '' Halichondria bowerbanki'' Burton, 1930 ** '' Halichondria brondstedi'' De Laubenfels, 1936 ** '' Halichondria brunnea'' (Schmidt, 1868) ** '' Halichondria cancellosa'' (Carter, 1886) ** '' Halichondria capensis'' Samaai & Gibbons, 2005 ** '' Halichondria carotenoidea'' Alvarez & Hooper, 2011 ** '' Halichondria cartilaginea'' (Esper, 1794) ** '' Halichondria cebimarensis'' Carvalho & Hajdu, 2001 ** '' Halichondria coerulea'' Bergquist, 1967 ** '' Halichondria colossea'' Lundbeck, 1902 ** '' Halichondria contorta'' (Sarà, 1961) ** '' Halichondria convolvens'' Sarà, 1960 ** '' Halichondria cornuloides'' Burton, 1954 ** '' Halichondria cristata'' Sarà, 1978 ** '' Halichondria cylindrata'' Tanita & Hoshino, 1989 ** '' Halichondria darwinensis'' Hooper, Cook, Hobbs & Kennedy, 1997 ** '' Halichondria diazae'' Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 ** '' Halichondria diversispiculata'' Burton, 1930 ** '' Halichondria dubia'' (Czerniavsky, 1880) ** '' Halichondria elenae'' Gastaldi, De Paula, Narvarte, Lôbo-Hajdu & Hajdu, 2018 ** '' Halichondria fallax'' (Marshall, 1892) ** '' Halichondria flexuosa'' (Sarà, 1978) ** '' Halichondria foetida'' (Wilson, 1894) ** '' Halichondria foraminosa'' (Czerniavsky, 1880) ** '' Halichondria fragilis'' Kieschnick, 1896 ** '' Halichondria gageoenesis'' Kang & Sim, 2008 ** '' Halichondria genitrix'' (Schmidt, 1870) ** '' Halichondria gilvus'' Samaai & Gibbons, 2005 ** '' Halichondria glabrata'' Keller, 1891 ** '' Halichondria heterorrhaphis'' Breitfuss, 1912 ** '' Halichondria intermedia'' Brøndsted, 1924 ** '' Halichondria isthmica'' (Keller, 1883) ** '' Halichondria japonica'' (Kadota, 1922) ** '' Halichondria knowltoni'' Bergquist, 1961 ** '' Halichondria labiata'' Hentschel, 1929 ** '' Halichondria lambei'' Brøndsted, 1933 ** '' Halichondria lendenfeldi'' Lévi, 1961 ** '' Halichondria leuconoides'' Topsent, 1890 ** '' Halichondria longispicula'' (Czerniavsky, 1880) ** '' Halichondria lutea'' Alcolado, 1984 ** '' Halichondria magniconulosa'' Hechtel, 1965 ** '' Halichondria marianae'' Santos, Nascimento & Pinheiro, 2018 ** '' Halichondria melanadocia'' Laubenfels, 1936 ** '' Halichondria membranacea'' (Sarà, 1978) ** '' Halichondria microbiana'' Alvarez & Hooper, 1911 ** ''

Halichondria migottea ''Halichondria'' is a genus of sea sponges belonging to the family Halichondriidae. These are massive, amorphous sponges with clearly separated inner and outer skeletons consisting of bundles of spicule (sponge), spicules arranged in a seemingly ...

'' Carvalho & Hajdu, 2001 ** '' Halichondria minuta'' Keller, 1891 ** '' Halichondria modesta'' (Pulitzer-Finali, 1986) ** '' Halichondria moorei'' Bergquist, 1961 ** '' Halichondria muanensis'' Kang & Sim, 2008 ** '' Halichondria nigrocutis'' (Carter, 1886) ** '' Halichondria normani'' Burton, 1930 ** '' Halichondria oblonga'' (Hansen, 1885) ** '' Halichondria okadai'' (Kadota, 1922) ** '' Halichondria osculum'' Lundbeck, 1902 ** '' Halichondria oshoro'' Tanita, 1961 ** '' Halichondria oxiparva'' (Sarà, 1978) ** ''

Halichondria panicea ''Halichondria panicea'', commonly known as the breadcrumb sponge, is a species of sea sponge belonging to the family Halichondriidae. It is an abundant sponge of coastal areas of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea ranging from the inte ...

'' (Pallas, 1766) ** '' Halichondria papillaris'' (Pallas, 1766) ** '' Halichondria pelliculata'' Ridley & Dendy, 1886 ** '' Halichondria phakellioides'' Dendy & Frederick, 1924 ** '' Halichondria poa'' (de Laubenfels, 1947) ** '' Halichondria pontica'' (Czerniavsky, 1880) ** '' Halichondria prostrata'' Thiele, 1905 ** '' Halichondria punctata'' Bergquist, 1970 ** '' Halichondria renieroides'' (Fristedt, 1887) ** '' Halichondria semitubulosa'' (Lamarck, 1814) ** '' Halichondria solidior'' (Schmidt, 1870) ** '' Halichondria stylata'' Diaz, Pomponi & Van Soest, 1993 ** '' Halichondria suberosa'' (Esper, 1794) ** '' Halichondria sulfurea'' Carvalho & Hajdu, 2001 ** '' Halichondria surrubicunda'' Hoshino, 1981 ** '' Halichondria syringea'' Pulitzer-Finali, 1996 ** '' Halichondria tenebrica'' Carvalho & Hajdu, 2001 ** '' Halichondria tenuiramosa'' Dendy, 1922 ** '' Halichondria tenuispiculata'' Brøndsted, 1916 ** '' Halichondria turritella'' (Schmidt, 1870) ** '' Halichondria velamentosa'' (Hansen, 1885) * Subgenus unassigned ** ''Halichondria albescens'' sensu Johnston, 1842 ** '' Halichondria flava'' (Merejkowski, 1878) ** '' Halichondria hongdoenesis'' Kang & Sim, 2008 ** '' Halichondria kelleri'' Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 ** '' Halichondria lona'' Laubenfels, 1936 ** '' Halichondria magellanica'' Dendy, 1924 ** '' Halichondria ulleungensis'' Kang & Sim, 2008

References

Halichondrida {{demosponge-stub