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Puffball Sponge

Oceanapia sagittaria

Photo by Blogie
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Also known as Pink Puffball Sponge, Burrowing Sponge, Red Burrowing Sponge, Maiden's Fan and Red Maiden Fan Sponge.

They feed on plankton and can grow to a length of about 10cm.

Habitat:

Found on shallow coral and rocky reefs with the stalk buried in the substrate and the cap about the size of a golf ball above is used for filtering food. This ball can also fall off, roll around the seabed, reattach or reform into another sponge. Widespread in the Western Central Pacific.

Notes:

A violet-hued globe that looks like it's made of gossamer, attached to a slender tube. The base seems to be rooted in the sand. Spotted this curious-looking marine life at a depth of about 30 feet, at a dive site called Limao Reef, off the coast of Samal Island, Philippines.

Reference Links:

Oceanapia sagittaria - Information on Oceanapia sagittaria

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (9)
Rhex
Your welcome blogie.. very amazing creature!
Roxanne
Amazing color, I love it, thanks for sharing!
Blogie
Thanks for the suggestion, Rhex, but it's something else. Thanks to WhatsThatFish.com who ID'd it for me!
Rhex
i think it's a kind of tube worm..
Blogie
@Gerardo - I don't know. I showed it to some of my friends and they couldn't identify it either. @Leuba - I'd say it was about 2-3cm in diameter. Partially visible creature? Do you mean the one above it? That's a type of corallimorph, if I'm not mistaken. @Nopayahnah - Thanks very much!
Maria dB
Your photos are beautiful and this is an interesting form of sealife!
Leuba Ridgway
very strange - would like to know what it is. How big were the jelly globes Blogie and what is that creature partially visible ?? - could it be an egg case of some sort ?
Gerardo Aizpuru
Very interesting Blogie do you have a local name for this organism?

Spotted for Missions

Mission
The Color Red
Mission
Global Coral Reef Monitoring
Mission
Davao Gulf Marine Life

Tags

Photographed
PublishedJanuary 12, 2012

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