Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Not Reef Tank Suitable
Not Suitable for Fish-Only Tank
Range: Western Atlantic Ocean: Caribbean.
Natural Environment: Inhabits rubble and rocky shelf areas in caves and under overhangs where there are strong currents
Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.
Best left in the wild.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Subclass: Keratosa
Order: Dictyoceratida
Family: Irciniida
Genus: Ircinia
FYI: Shown here for identification purpose only.
These sponges smell very bad if removed from the water and serve no useful purpose in aquaria. Yields a strong anti-feeding chemical to withstand being fed upon by fishes.
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!
