Sponge Guide

UNCW National Science Foundation Valdosta State University Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Observed Characteristics:

Color:

  • yellow
  • green

Morphology:

  • lobate
  • massive
  • spherical
  • tube

Consistency:

  • soft
  • tough

Sample Locations:

  • Bahamas

Suberea sp.-“soft Aplysina lacunosa”

Notes: It has probably being missidentified by reef workers as Aplysina lacunosa (Pallas, 1766), which is a different species also pictured here. Single or groups of globular tubes with a somewhat convoluted and heavily fouled surface. Oscules on top of lobes and tubes have a fleshy low collar; the bottom of the atrium has a concave membrane heavily perforated. It belongs to genus Suberea by its skeleton of dendritic, pithed fibers. A search for an existing name in the old literature is needed before proposing a new one. However, it may have sometimes be confused with a heavily fouled, apparently undescribed species, vis. Verongula sp.-“fouled”, also pictured here, which has a regular reticulation of pithed spongin fibers arranged in walls conforming a honeycombed pattern.