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Yellow Tube Sponge

Aplysina fistularis

Photo by moralcoral
Published on Project Noah
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20.5101, -86.9489

Field Notes

Description:

I havnt even edited the colours in this, it was positively glowing!

Tube Sponges pump huge quantities of water through their bodies, filtering out the tiny particles on which they feed. They can pump five times their volume of water every second!! Their vivid yellow colour is due to special fluorescent pigments in the sponge tissue.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (29)
Ashish
Great efforts required for under sea spottings.. All these under sea spottings are precious for Project Noah..!!
moralcoral
Although note this isnt a coral, its a sponge, different family, corals are part of the jellyfish family Cnidaria while sponges are in Porifera!!
moralcoral
Its true sunscreens can damage corals as they increase susseptibility to viruses! Also you should never touch corals as you can transmit human pathogens to them such as the Herpes virus!!
GeoLeo42
Una pequeña muestra de la riqueza natural de nuestro hermoso país...felicidades moralcoral!
Ava T-B
IrmaFelicitas your comment is important; I'm going to try to translate it into English. I'm not very good at this. When swimming to see corals, don't use creams or sunscreen because they damage the corals.
SantaLuciaReserve
The baton has been passed on to a worthy spotter. Well deserved spot of the day. Great photo.
IrmaFelicitas
Qué increíbles colores! Adoro mi tierra mexicana, por favor cuando vayan a ver los corales, no usen cremas o cosas antisolares, porque dañan permanentemente el arrecife al mezclarse con el agua. Gracias.
peter
Spotting of the Day! "Yellow tube sponges pump five times their own volume of water every minute, filtering out the tiny particles on which they feed." http://facebook.com/projectnoah/posts/247608158626049 http://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/136227300403445760
SantaLuciaReserve
Nope. We see the bears(oso), kinkajous(cusumbo), tayra(cabeza de mate) and some of the cooperative have seen puma but the little cats are so timid. I'm off for a night in a hammock next week, that'll be our best bet...
moralcoral
Id love to see an oncila! have you seen any (not via camera trap)?
moralcoral
Forest Corals Maybe, or snakes im good with them too!
moralcoral
Dunno id rather be in Santa Lucia!! If you ever need a coral expert?? =)
SantaLuciaReserve
It almost makes us want to leave the reserve and spend a weekend splashing about in Mexico.
SantaLuciaReserve
Beautiful animal. I won't even try and ID it, but I might make it my desktop.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Global Coral Reef Monitoring
Photographed
PublishedNovember 11, 2011

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