Azure Vase Sponge
The azure vase sponge (Callyspongia plicifera) is a lavender-blue tube sponge of Caribbean reefs, with a vase-shaped body and ridged walls. It is among the most common and recognizable sponges on the reef.
The azure vase sponge (Callyspongia plicifera) is a lavender-blue tube sponge of Caribbean reefs, with a vase-shaped body and ridged walls. It is among the most common and recognizable sponges on the reef.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Azure Vase Sponge in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Metazoa lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
A Reef Filter
Water enters through tiny pores in the walls and leaves through the large opening at the top. A single sponge can filter many times its volume of water per hour, removing bacteria and particles and returning nutrients to the reef.
Turning White: Sponge Bleaching
Vase sponges can lose their color in outbreaks of disease and under stress, such as unusually warm water. Sponges are becoming more prominent on some Caribbean reefs as corals decline. See Giant Barrel Sponge.
Chemistry
Like many sponges, it makes compounds that deter predators and fouling organisms, some of which are being tested for medical uses. See Bath Sponge.
Azure Vase Sponge at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Callyspongia plicifera |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Porifera |
| Class | Demospongiae |
| Order | Haplosclerida |
| Family | Callyspongiidae |
| Field Guide group | Porifera: Sponges (Basal Metazoans) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Pink-to-lavender vase with a convoluted, ridged surface that glows blue under certain light; pumps water out its top. |
| Order | Haplosclerida |
| Habitat | Caribbean reefs |