Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-Pacific Ocean
Natural Environment: Inhabits shallow reefs where it encrusts dead corals, coral rubble and generally any other hard substrates in the area.
Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.
Best left in the wild.
Note: For a photo of this sponge, visit the Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, page 32.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Subclass: Heteroscleromorpha
Order: Poecilosclerida
Family: Microcionidae
Genus: Clathria
FYI: Feeds by drawing water in and through its pores and filtering out bacteria and organic particles, then expelling the filtered water out through the osculi.
In the past was technical listed as Phakellia flabellate, Ridley & Dendy, 1886 in the Family Axinellidae.