Discodermia

Discodermia  is a genus of deep-water sea sponge.

Species
The following species are accepted within Discodermia:


 * Discodermia adhaerens Van Soest, Meesters & Becking, 2014
 * Discodermia arbor Carvalho & Xavier, 2020
 * Discodermia aspera Carter, 1880
 * Discodermia calyx Döderlein, 1884
 * Discodermia claviformis Kieschnick, 1896
 * Discodermia discifera (Lendenfeld, 1907)
 * Discodermia discifurca Sollas, 1888
 * Discodermia dissoluta Schmidt, 1880
 * Discodermia dubia Vacelet & Vasseur, 1971
 * Discodermia emarginata Dendy, 1905
 * Discodermia gorgonoides Burton, 1928
 * Discodermia inscripta (Schmidt, 1879)
 * Discodermia interspersa Kumar, 1925
 * Discodermia irregularis Hoshino, 1976
 * Discodermia japonica Döderlein, 1884
 * Discodermia jogashima Tanita & Hoshino, 1989
 * Discodermia kellyae Carvalho & Xavier, 2020
 * Discodermia kiiensis Hoshino, 1977
 * Discodermia koreana Sim, 1982
 * Discodermia laevidiscus Carter, 1880
 * Discodermia natalensis Kirkpatrick, 1903
 * Discodermia ornata Sollas, 1888
 * Discodermia panoplia Sollas, 1888
 * Discodermia papillata Carter, 1880
 * Discodermia polydiscus (Bowerbank, 1869)
 * Discodermia polymorpha Pisera & Vacelet, 2011
 * Discodermia proliferans Lévi & Lévi, 1983
 * Discodermia ramifera Topsent, 1892
 * Discodermia sinuosa Carter, 1881
 * Discodermia stylifera Keller, 1891
 * Discodermia tuberosa Dendy, 1922
 * Discodermia vermicularis Döderlein, 1884
 * Discodermia verrucosa Topsent, 1928

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.