Aplysina archeri

(Higgin, 1875)

Stovepipe Sponge

Range: Western Atlantic Ocean: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bonaire.

Natural Environment: Inhabits deep calm waters and sometimes found attached to vertical walls.

Aquarium Suitability: Not collected for the home aquarium trade.

Best left in the wild.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Porifera

Class: Demospongiae

Subclass: Verongimorpha

Order: Verongiida

Family: Aplysinidae

Genus: Aplysina

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.

A singe tube can reach 5 feet (150 cm) in height.

Shown here for identification only.