Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Not Suitable for Fish-Only Tank
Range: Western Atlantic Ocean: Florida, Caribbean and Bahamas.
Natural Environment: Inhabits shallow reefs and encrusts base areas of corals.
Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.
Best left in the wild.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Subclass: Heteroscleromorpha
Order: Poecilosclerida
Family: Tedaniidae
Genus: Tedania
FYI: Shown here for identification only.
Sponges posses no nervous, digestive or excretory systems, and feed by filtering suspended bacteria and fine detritus. Strong water movement is vital to almost all, not only for carrying food to these sessile creatures but also to carry waste/unused matter away. In fact, a sponge the size of a baseball can filter about fifty gallons of water per hour!
Irritating to the touch, and if disturbed too often can release a toxin that can be fatal to predators.
