Friends of Netarts Bay Watershed, Estuary, Beach, and Sea

Haliclona sp.
Purple Encrusting Sponge
Alaska to California
Family Chalinidae
Native

The Purple Encrusting Sponge, because of its vivid color, is one of the most noticeable sponges in the rocky lower intertidal zones of the outer coast. It is easy to find near the bases of the sea stacks of Tunnel Beach. It encrusts the rocky surface in patches that are about two millimeters (less that one eighth inch) thick. Its surface is peppered with little volcano-like holes called oscula and much smaller holes called ostia. Water enters through the ostia by the pumping action of flagellated cells, the choanocytes, where food is collected, then exits through the oscula. A sponge, in general, can pump water through its system at a volume equal to its body weight in about five seconds.

The taxonomy is unclear. Some have identified it as H. permollis but that is in dispute. Even the genus is uncertain. Its microscopic spicules, a skeletal component that is used in identification, are siliceous (made of silica) and, in the arcane language of biologists, are mostly oxeote diactinal monaxons, that is they are cylindrical rods pointed at both ends.

Spicule

Halichondria panicea
Yellow-Green Encrusting Sponge
Alaska to Mexico
Family Halichrondriidae
Native

Also called the breadcrumb sponge, its a common intertidal sponge, encrusting patches of rocks in the mid to lower tidal zones. It is usually greenish on the surface but yellow underneath with oscula, like small chimneys, poking through the surface. It may have a burnt gunpowder smell that wards off potential preadators, though it is eaten by the sea lemon nudibranch. It lives mostly in high-energy, wave-swept environments. It reproduces both sexually by broadcast spawning, and asextually by pincing off sextions. It spicules resemble those of Haliclona.

Sea lemon nudibranch feeding.

Suberites sp.
Orange sponge
Range unknown
Family Suberitidae
Native (probably)

Occurring in the lower intertidal zone, this orange-colored sponge encrusts a few indentations on the rocky outcrops of tunnel beach. The identification is tentative. It appears to have few, if any, oscula. The silicate spicules, the skeletal structures in the sponge used for identification, are tylostyles, long, straight, needle-like, and sharply pointed on one end. The other end is an unadorned, round knob. This sponge is not as common as the other encrusting sponges. It may also be in the related genus Prosuberites from the same family.

Halichondria bowerbanki
Bowerbank’s Crumb Sponge
British Columbia to California
Family Halichondriidae
Native

This sponge was encrusting dead eel grass blades in Netarts Bay. Bowerbank’s sponge is light yellow to yellow-brown, and according to one account, never green. Its spicules are diatine oxeas - that is, unbranched, unadorned, and pointed at both ends. It is can be found intertidally in bays and estuaries or subtidally on rocks and other structures. It can be poymorphous, looking stringy and branched or like a compact encrusting cushion, and is easily confused with H. panicea because under certain conditions it will take on the appearance of that sponge. It is also found int the Atlantic, both western and eastern.

Clathria pennata
Red Velvet Sponge
Alaska to Mexico
Family Microcionidae
Native

It was formerly given the genus name Ophlitaspongia, so if you are looking for internet information, try this name as well as Clathria. Its color can vary from a vibrant red to mustard. It is common under rocks and ledges from intertidal to ninety meters deep. It is hermaphroditic and develops a free swimming parenchymella larva that settles down on a substrate to form a young sponge. Also called the Red Star Sponge, it is the favorite home of the dorid red sponge nudibranch Rostanga pulchra.

Cliona californiana
Yellow Boring Sponge
Alaska to Mexico
Family Clionaidae
Native

Though it is not pictured in the photo directly, you can see the results of this sponge's boring action in this rock scallop shell. In life, Cliona californiana is a bright yellow sponge, living mostly subtidally and seen as small yellow patches on a shell, that uses acid to soften the shells of mollusks and barnacles and channel its way into the shell's interior where it resides. This excavation weakens the shell and eventually kills the host. Locally, the rock scallop is the favored host, but it can play havoc with oysters and abalone, particularly the red abalone Haliotis rufescens in California. There are some nudibranchs that prey on this sponge.

Lissodendoryx sp.
Yellow Sponge
Alaska to California
Family Coelophaeridae
Native

This bright yellow encrusting sponge was found at the low tidal zone, growing inside a wide, shallow tunnel that projects through a basaltic outcrop along Tunnel Beach at Oceanside. A sample was sent to sponge authority Bruce Ott for identification. According to Bruce, it may be an unidentified species of Lissodendoryx. A data sheet on his findings is in Appendix 1.

Arcuate isochelas spicule

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