Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Western Atlantic Ocean: Florida, Caribbean, and Bahamas to Colombia.
Natural Environment: Inhabits reef slope areas where current is swift.
Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.
Best left in the wild.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Subclass: Heteroscleromorpha
Order: Haplosclerida
Family: Niphatidae
Genus: Niphates
FYI: Shown here for identification only.
Occurs in different shades of blue, pink, and gray and grows to about 12 inches (30 cm) in height. Sometimes hosts the zoanthid Parazoanthus parasiticus.
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!
