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Chalice Sponge

Phakellia ventilabrum

Classification

Family
Bubaridae

Sponge reefs are reefs produced by sea sponges. All modern sponge reefs are formed by hexactinellid sponges, which have an endoskeleton made of silica spicules and are often referred to as "glass sponges", while historically the non-spiculed, calcite-skeletoned archaeocyathid and stromatoporoid sponges were the primary reef-builders. Sponge reefs were once a dominant landscape in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic sea, but are now very rare, and found only in waters off the coast of North America's Pacific Northwest region, more specifically southern Alaska, British Columbia and Washington.

Distribution

(c) Bernard Picton, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Bernard Picton · CC-BY
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Countries in the Picchu catalog
Spain · 3France · 1United Kingdom · 1