Petrosia ficiformis

(Poiret, 1789)

Bread Sponge

Range: Northern Atlantic Ocean: Mediterranean to Cape Verde Islands.

Natural Environment: Inhabits caves and nearby rocky areas.

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: Petrosiidae

Genus: Petrosia

FYI: Shown here for identification purpose only.

Has a temperature range of 50 to 65°F (10 - 18°C).

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!