Observed Characteristics:
Color:
- brown
Morphology:
- encrusting
Consistency:
- soft
Sample Locations:
- Colombia
Cliona tenuis
| Species: Cliona tenuis | View Image Details |
| Location: Islas del Rosario, Colombia | Photographer: Sven Zea |
| Species: Cliona tenuis | View Image Details |
| Location: Islas del Rosario, Colombia | Photographer: Sven Zea |
| Species: Cliona tenuis | View Image Details |
| Location: San Andrés Archipelago, San Andrés Island, Colombia | Photographer: Sven Zea |
| Species: Cliona tenuis | View Image Details |
| Location: Islas del Rosario, Colombia | Photographer: Sven Zea |
| Species: Cliona tenuis | View Image Details |
| Location: San Andrés Archipelago, San Andrés Island, Colombia | Photographer: Sven Zea |
Notes: Excavating sponge. It encrust entirely the excavated substratum with a thin veneer of brown tissue; the underlying coral skeleton can be discerned. Oscules are small and inconspicuous. It can grow up to several m in diameter, especially in fore reef pavement settings. It prefers windward, wave-exposed shallow reefs. We did not observe it in the Bahamas, because we did not visit open windward reef sites. The accompanied photos are from Colombia. It has been colonizing the dead stands of the elkhorn coral Acropora palmata throughout the Caribbean. It can be distinguished from C. caribbaea Carter, 1882, also pictured here, by the latter being thicker and having larger oscules with a lighter colored collar; there are also slight spicular differences (size and shape, see Zea & Weil, 2003). This sponge excavates the upper 1-2 cm of the substratum, filling cavities with a greenish yellow tissue.
Author Reference: Zea & Weil, 2003
Link: World Porifera Database