''Spheciospongia vesparium'', commonly known as the loggerhead sponge, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and are o ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Clionaidae Clionaidae is a family of ectoparasitic demosponges which are found worldwide. This group of sponges are well known for boring holes in calcareous material such as mollusc shells and coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the ...

. While it is highly toxic to many fish, this sponge is eaten by certain angelfish and is known to form part of the diet of the

hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution that is largel ...

(''Eretmochelys imbricata'').

Description

This massive sponge has varying forms in different locations. One common form is barrel-shaped or cake-shaped with a flattened top, but it may also be roughly globular or amorphous. The texture is firm, tough and dense. The surface is broadly undulating and rough, with a mixture of large and small osculi surrounded by groups of fine pores, each in diameter. The color of the sponge both inside and out is purplish, gray or brownish-black, and the surface is often partly obscured by sediment or by algae growing on it.

Distribution and habitat

This sponge is native to the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

and around the coasts of the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. It occurs on patch reefs and in lagoons; when growing on soft sediment it often has a wider and deeper base than when growing on rock. Its depth range is .

Ecology

Although it is toxic to many vertebrates, some fish have been observed to feed on this sponge, a fact confirmed by fragments of the sponge being found in their guts; these fish include the

queen angelfish The queen angelfish (''Holacanthus ciliaris''), also known as the blue angelfish, golden angelfish, or yellow angelfish, is a species of Pomacanthidae, marine angelfish found in the western Atlantic Ocean. It is a benthic zone, benthic (ocean f ...

(''Holacanthus ciliaris''), the rock beauty (''Holacanthus tricolor'') and the

French angelfish ''Pomacanthus paru'', also known by its common name the French angelfish, is a slow growing coral reef fish from the Caribbean. The species is of the family Pomacanthidae, which contains other species of marine angelfish. Its closest relative is th ...

(''Pomacanthus paru''). Other predators feeding on the sponge include the

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

worm '' Branchiosyllis oculata'', and the red cushion sea star (''Oreaster reticulatus''). It is also preyed upon by the

(''Eretmochelys imbricata''). The tunnels and cavities inside the sponge are home to a wide array of invertebrates. Being a suspension feeder, this sponge has been found to be helpful in controlling harmful blooms of

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteri ...

; sites in

Florida Bay Florida Bay is the bay located between the southern end of the Florida mainland (the Everglades, Florida Everglades) and the Florida Keys in the United States. It is a large, shallow estuary that while connected to the Gulf of Mexico, has limited ...

with an abundance of loggerhead sponges were found to have few or no blooms whereas similar sites with few sponges had long-lasting, dense blooms.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q141164 Hadromerida Sponges of the Atlantic Ocean Fauna of the Caribbean Fauna of the Dominican Republic Sponges of Brazil Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Sponges described in 1814