Pauline Walsh Jacobson, USA
Info
Callyspongia (Cladochalina) plicifera (Lamarck, 1814)
This sessile vase sponge is usually found on steep reef walls or canyons and is one of the most colorful sponges in our oceans.
The color of the sponge ranges from cream, orange, pink, purple to light blue, often with bluish-pink iridescence, and the surface is smooth and firm, sometimes even completely smooth.
The sponge feeds on phytoplankton and small, living phytoplankton as well as dissolved substances, which is why the sponge needs an appropriate current to continuously supply it with plankton.
We cannot offer this animal this nutrition in the aquarium.
Although the sponge is mainly native to the Caribbean, the Smithonian National Museum of Natural History has documented a find around the Marshall Islands.
Marshall Islands.
The peppermint shrimp Lysmata pederseni is often found in the sponge.
Synonyms:
Callyspongia (Spinosella) plicifera (Lamarck, 1814) (subgenus transfer)
Callyspongia plicifera (Lamarck, 1814) (subgenus assignment)
Patuloscula plicifera (Lamarck, 1814) (genus transfer)
Spinosella plicifera (Lamarck, 1814) (genus transfer)
Spongia plicifera Lamarck, 1814 (genus transfer)
Spongia scrobiculata Lamarck, 1814 (genus transfer and junior synonym)
This sessile vase sponge is usually found on steep reef walls or canyons and is one of the most colorful sponges in our oceans.
The color of the sponge ranges from cream, orange, pink, purple to light blue, often with bluish-pink iridescence, and the surface is smooth and firm, sometimes even completely smooth.
The sponge feeds on phytoplankton and small, living phytoplankton as well as dissolved substances, which is why the sponge needs an appropriate current to continuously supply it with plankton.
We cannot offer this animal this nutrition in the aquarium.
Although the sponge is mainly native to the Caribbean, the Smithonian National Museum of Natural History has documented a find around the Marshall Islands.
Marshall Islands.
The peppermint shrimp Lysmata pederseni is often found in the sponge.
Synonyms:
Callyspongia (Spinosella) plicifera (Lamarck, 1814) (subgenus transfer)
Callyspongia plicifera (Lamarck, 1814) (subgenus assignment)
Patuloscula plicifera (Lamarck, 1814) (genus transfer)
Spinosella plicifera (Lamarck, 1814) (genus transfer)
Spongia plicifera Lamarck, 1814 (genus transfer)
Spongia scrobiculata Lamarck, 1814 (genus transfer and junior synonym)
