Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
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Real Reef Rock 

Family Chalinidae

Haliclona urceolus

(Rathke & Vahl, 1806)

Tube Sponge

Not Reef Tank Suitable

Not Suitable for Fish-Only Tank

Range: Northern Atlantic Ocean: British Isles.

Natural Environment: Inhabits crevices and stones on western coasts.

Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home tropical aquarium trade.

Best left in the wild.

Taxonomy:

    Kingdom: Animalia

    Phylum: Porifera

    Class: Demospongiae

    Subclass: Heteroscleromorpha

    Order: Haplosclerida

    Family: Chalinidae

    Genus: Haliclona

FYI: Shown here for identification only.

Has a temperature range of 50 - 68ºF (10 - 20ºC).

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!

 Haliclona urceolus (Tube Sponge)
Photo © BioMar-TCD
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