Creamy Salmon Sponge

Description:

Photo take at -40 ft on a coral reef, this is common on the aribbean sea. Thick encrustations, or masses, with irregular lobes. Skin color creamy, over an orange internal tissue, producing an overal withish salmon color. Consistency soft. Spicules are straight strongyles with one of the sides slightly engrossed and the other slighlty pointed, making them look like subtylostyles. Spicules are equal in shape to co-existing Batzella rubra, but shorter in length and slightly stouter.

Habitat:

Common in bays and lagoons on mangrove roots and stones. On reefs especially on the reef flat on coral rubble and in the deeper parts. Found from Florida all the Caribbean Sea to Colombia.