Sponge Guide

UNCW National Science Foundation Valdosta State University Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Observed Characteristics:

Color:

  • gray
  • cream
  • cinnamon-tan

Morphology:

  • fan
  • vase

Consistency:

  • tough

Sample Locations:

  • Netherland Antilles
  • United States

Ircinia campana

Notes: Inverted cones with relatively thin walls. Sometimes as thicker vases or as fans (incomplete fans), or as masses with an upper depression. External surface with low conules. Internal surface with aligned or scattered circular oscules. Color tan to light brown to dark brown. Consistency very tough, difficult to cut. Strong odor of sulfur and garlic. No spicules. Skeleton of ascending and diverging primary fascicles of fibers interconnected perpendicularly by secondary fibers. All fibers with embedded foreign material. Spongin fibrils characteristic of the genus are present throughout the tissue. Species absent in the Bahamas.

Author Reference: (Lamarck, 1816)

 

Link: World Porifera Database