Liosina paradoxa

Thiele, 1899

Tree Sponge

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean

Natural Environment: Inhabits dead corals, coral rubble and generally encrusting any other hard substrates in shallow coastal waters.

Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.

Best left in the wild.

Note: For a photo of this sponge, visit the Baensch Marine Atlas Vol. 2, page 57.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Porifera

Class: Demospongiae

Subclass: Heteroscleromorpha

Order: Bubarida

Family: Dictyonellidae

Genus: Liosina

FYI: Feeds by drawing water in and through its pores and filtering out bacteria and organic particles, then expelling the filtered water out through the osculi.