Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Western Atlantic Ocean: Caribbean and Puerto Rico.
Natural Environment: Inhabits reef slope areas where current is swift.
Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.
Best left in the wild.
Note: For a photo of this sponge, visit the Marine Invertebrates And Plants of the Living Reef, page 73.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Subclass: Heteroscleromorpha
Order: Poecilosclerida
Family: Esperiopsidae
Genus: Scopalina
FYI: 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!
Was previously Ulosa hispida.
