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Project Noah Nature School
Haliclona loosanoffi(?)
Definitely an encrusting sponge. Pale, almost white, slightly fuzzy in appearance. Obvious excurrent pores. Straight, silica spicules visible under 100x microscope. Encrusting on the live rock in a 75 gallon salt tank.
Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to south, lower intertidal zone. Hardy - produces reproduction gemmules that survive winter. (Marine Animals of Southern New England & New York, Howard Weiss (1995))
Likely added to my tank w/from shells of hermit crabs collected at Bluff Point in Groton, CT back in October 2010. Have now reproduced to the point that I had to physically remove much of them from the live rock. Can apparently handle wildly fluctuating water quality.
Spotted on Mar 31, 2011
Submitted on Mar 31, 2011
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