Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Western Atlantic Ocean: Florida, Caribbean, and the Bahamas.
Natural Environment: Inhabits shallow local reefs and bays and encrusts the base areas of corals and harbor poles.
Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.
Best left in the wild.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Subclass: Heteroscleromorpha
Order: Poecilosclerida
Family: Mycalidae
Genus: Mycale
FYI: Shown here for identification only.
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!
