Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean
Natural Environment: Inhabits reef flats and slopes where currents are strong.
Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.
Best left in the wild.
Note: For a photo of this sponge, visit the Baensch Marine Atlas Vol. 2, page 72.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Subclass: Keratosa
Order: Dictyoceratida
Family: Thorectidae
Genus: Lendenfeldia
FYI: 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!
Was previously identified as Phyllospongia dendyi.