Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean
Natural Environment: Inhabits shaded cave walls, rubble and rocky shelf areas, and also found under overhangs where currents are strong.
Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.
Best left in the wild.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Calcarea
Subclass: Calcaronea
Order: Leucosolenida
Family: Grantiidae
Genus: Leuconia
FYI: Shown here for identification only.
These are sponges having skeletons composed of three or four rayed calcareous spicules, which consist of calcium carbonate in the form of calcite.
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!
