Sponge Guide

UNCW National Science Foundation Valdosta State University Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Observed Characteristics:

Color:

  • yellow
  • orange

Morphology:

  • branching
  • bushy
  • massive
  • tube

Consistency:

  • tough

Sample Locations:

  • Bahamas

Aplysina insularis

Notes: Lower and usually smaller tubes than in Aplysina fistularis (Pallas, 1766), also pictured here; usually crowned with branchelets. It prefers shallow reefs and lagoon and tidal channels environments, but can also be seen in reefs. In the Bahamas it may be an ecophenotypic form of A. fistularis, but there appears to be a distinct species elsewhere in the Caribbean and in Brazil, whose name may need to be evaluates.

Author Reference: (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864)

 

Link: World Porifera Database