Halichondrida, Dictyonellidae
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| Common Name(s): | Orange lumpy encrusting sponge |
| Growth Form: | Thickly encrusting. Small specimens may form thick lumps. |
| Surface: | Porous; a transparent membrane rests over erect skeletal pillars that form pointed cones (=conules). Membrane with a whitish apparently fibrillar network. |
| Color: | Milky orange; sometimes yellow. |
| Consistency: | Soft. |
| Exudate: | None. |
| Oscules: | Round, scattered, 3-15 mm across, with a transparent or pale orange collar that may be 3-10 mm tall. Openings of 2-4 canals occupy the entire space within each oscule. |
| Skeletal Components (Spicules, Fibers): | Slightly curved rods with 1 gently tapering pointed end and 1 blunt or rounded end (style), and rods with two pointed ends, but one end gently tapering, the other stepped (asymmetric oxea). |
| Skeletal Architecture: | Ascending and branching tracts of spicules that end in surface conules. Many free spicules in the tissue. |
| Ecology: | On coral reefs and hard bottoms. |
| Distribution: | Bermuda, Bahamas, South Florida and throughout the Caribbean. |
| References: | Wiedenmayer (1977), Zea (1987). |