Porifera
Chondrilla nucula
(Chicken Liver Sponge)
1. In situ (Greg McFall)
2. In situ (Patrick Erwin)
3. In situ (Patrick Erwin)
4. Out of water (Steve Vives)
5. Out of water (Steve Vives)
6. Out of water - shows cream colored interior of sponge (Patrick Erwin)
Size
Colony height: 2.5cm (1") Colony width: reaching 5-10cm (2-4")
Recognition Characters
Two distinctive growth habits occur which can be separated by color and habitat. (1) Amorphous and thickly encrusting over several cm thick on rocky substrates with pronounced, deeply curved or incised, meandering lobes never covering large areas. Oscules are conspicuous. (2) Thinly encrusting 1-2mm thick. The consistency is soft, elastic, and tough reminiscent of fresh liver (hence the name). Surface is smooth, glabrous, and shiny. Cryptic or species growing under ledges may have no pigment. Spicules are oxyspherasters of different sizes.
Color
Pinkish white to pure white, also dark brown to walnut brown
Habitat & Depth
Widely distributed throughout many habitats. Inhabit ledges, rocky outcroppings, crevices, and coral reefs, also mangroves and seagrass beds.
Distribution at GRNMS
Abundant. Occurs on tops of ledges or rocky outcroppings in dense populations.
Geographic Range
North Carolina south to Brazil, throughout Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico
Behavior & Notes
Further offshore from GRNMS this sponge adopts a more cryptic behavior and is usually found only on the underside of ledges.
Synonyms
Humann 1992a, Meinkoth 1981