Convoluted barrel sponge
Aplysina lacunosa
(Pallas, 1766)
Description:
Single or clustered, thick-walled tapering tubes of up to 35 cm high, 10 cm in diameter, with an apical vent of up to 3.5 cm with an iris type diaphragm (A. lacunosa-close up). The tubes are tapering more strongly towards the base than Aplysina archeri ; often the base is barely 1 cm in diameter. Tube walls deeply intended by irregular meandering grooves or disc-shaped depressions of up to 10 mm deep and wide (A. lacunosa-pitted). Consistency tough and hardly compressible; although there seem to be a hard and a soft form.
Color:
Ridges dark green to yellowish-green, valleys and pits yellow-green to yellow. Interior walls have yellow excurrent pores.
Habitat:
This species is known from reef and lagoon localities and from sandy flats between the reefs. Often have sediment, algae and various organisms on the surface.
Distribution:
Bahamas, Jamaica and Caribbean.