Sponge Guide

UNCW National Science Foundation Valdosta State University Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Observed Characteristics:

Color:

  • gray
  • green
  • cream

Morphology:

  • tube

Consistency:

  • tough

Sample Locations:

  • Bahamas

Hyrtios sp.-“gray amphora”

Notes: Gray, amphora-like sponges arising from cave ledges and bending towards the outside. Oscular rim narrow, smooth; surface often fouled, with a low-profile honeycomb pattern. Consistency compressible, but not too elastic, somewhat difficult to tear. Skeleton of ascending and interconnecting spongin fibers filled with sand grains and foreign material; surface with a network of sand grains, leaving only pore spaces. Should be compared to Hyrtios tubulatus Lehnert & van Soest, 1998, for which there only exists dry material. It could also be a growth form (cave?) of Hyrtios cavernosus sensu Wiedenmayer, 1977 (also pictured in this guide), as it shares with it the gray color and the skeletal architecture. There are small-juvenile? stages similar to this one in Ircinia strobilina (Lamarck, 1816) (see photos therein).