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Related FAQs: Sponges, Sponges 2, Sponges 3, Sponges 4, Sponge Identification, Sponge ID 2, Sponge ID 3, Sponge ID 4, Sponge ID 5, Sponge ID 6, Sponge ID 7, & Sponge Selection, Sponge Compatibility, Sponge Systems, Sponge Feeding, Sponge Disease, Sponge Reproduction, Related Articles: Invertebrates, Live Rock, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Review of Tyree's "Cryptic Filtration" Bk /The Best Livestock For Your Reef Aquarium: Sponges, Phylum Porifera, Part 2To: Sponges Part 1, Part 3, | 
| By Bob Fenner | Principal marine organisms |
| Gelloides fibulatus (Ridley 1884), the Thorny Horny Sponge (am not making this up). Indo-Pacific; Malaysia. Comes in two forms, encrusting and tubular. Up to fourteen inches in height. Off of Pulau Redang, Malaysia. | 
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| Grayella cyathophora Red Sea pic. | 
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| Out of the Indo-Pacific several warm colored Sponge genera/species are collected for the trade; my choice picks are the beautiful blue, yellow or purple Halichondria and Haliclona (shown). These two genera comprise hardy (1’s), hermatypic finger and encrusting species requiring intense light. | 
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| Haliclona vetulina De Laubenfels, Purple Star-Sponge. Red Sea, Indo-Pacific. Made of distinctive channels about its osculae. An aggressive space competitor, displacing almost all sessile invertebrates, including corals. N. Sulawesi and two at Gili Air, Indonesia showing a mollusk being covered and a coral being overgrown. |
| Hymedesmia sp., Blue Sponge. Red Sea | 
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| Ianthella hasta. N. Sulawesi and Whitsundays, QLD, Australia close-ups. |  
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| Lotrochota birotulata, the Green Finger Sponge. Made up of finger-like branches, often covered with Golden Zoanthids (as shown). Bahamas and St. Lucia pix. |  
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| Ircinia felix, Class Demospongiae. Stinker Sponge. Light gray or brown encrusting globes, 6-12 inches in diameter. Conspicuous hexagonal markings on surface. Smells very bad on removal from water. Cozumel pix, close-up by Diana.F |  
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| Latrunculia sp. Red Sponge. Red Sea. Reportedly very poisonous (Baensch Marine Atlas). | 
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| Leiodermatium sp. Wavy Cave Sponge. Hard to the touch and distinctive in shape. Found in caves, within crevices. May be endemic to Hawai'i. Kona pix. | 
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| Leucetta sp. Class Calcarea. Appear as opaque lemon-yellow masses with several osculae (excurrent openings). Tend to be compact, "potato-shaped". N. Sulawesi image. | 
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| Leuconia palaoensis (Tanita 1943). Shy exterior of pale pink to light blue tubules of soft, thin material. Austro-Malay. N. Sulawesi image. | 
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| Monanchora barbadensis, the Red Encrusting Sponge. Bright red sheets, with radiating canals from excurrent siphons Bahamas and Cozumel pix. |  
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| Monanchora unguifera, the Fine Lumpy Sponge. 4-16 inch colonies (diameter). Bahamas pic. | 
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| Mycale laevis, the Orange King Sponge. Bright orange to yellow with white excurrent siphons. Grow under, about a few species of stony corals, actually protecting them from bioerosion by other/boring sponge species. Bahamas images. |  
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| Mycale laxissima. Strawberry Vase Sponge. Bright reds and oranges. Attached to solid substrates. Bahamas pic. | 
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To: Sponges Part 1, Part 3,
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