| Common Name(s): |
Azure vase sponge, Iridescent vase sponge |
| Growth Form: |
Vase- or tube-shaped, broadening upward from the base or cylindrical, round or somewhat compressed in cross section; up to 27 cm tall and 14 cm wide. Small specimens may be rounded mounds. Typically a single tube; sometimes 2-3. |
| Surface: |
Meandering, labyrinthine ridges and grooves up to 1 cm deep; ridges sometimes surround isolated pits or pockets; sometimes smooth in places; rarely entirely smooth. |
| Color: |
Pink, lilac, pale bluish; often iridescent in life; pale yellow when dead. |
| Consistency: |
Compressible, elastic. |
| Exudate: |
None. |
| Oscules: |
Small, round, in lines inside the tube. The apical opening may have a fringe of soft spines connected by a thin membrane, but is not a true oscule. |
| Skeletal Components (Spicules, Fibers): |
Spongin fibers of two to three diameters sparsely cored with thin, straight or slightly sinuous rods with two blunt ends (strongyle) (60-90 x 1.0-2.5 μm). Smaller fibers especially may lack interior spicules. |
| Skeletal Architecture: |
Exterior skeleton a polygonal meshwork of coarse primary fibers (60-100 μm across) with meshes 700-1000 μm across, and finer secondary fibers (10-60 μm across) with meshes 100-500 μm across. Fibers contain sparse spicules. Interior skeleton with well-developed longitudinal fiber bundles (fibrofascicles) up to 550 μm in diameter, branching toward surface to form meandering ridges. Fiber meshwork between bundles composed of primary (70-150 μm across), secondary (40-70 μm across), and smaller tertiary interlacing (8-30 μm) fibers, the latter two mostly without interior spicules. |
| Ecology: |
Chiefly on coral reefs to a depth of at least 18 m. Often with a bluish-pink iridescence. |
| Distribution: |
East-southeastern Gulf of Mexico, South Florida and throughout the Caribbean. |
| Notes: |
Both Niphates digitalis and Callyspongia vaginalis are typically conulose and lack the meandering ridges and grooves. Callyspongia vaginalis occurs as multiple (typically >3) tubes. |
| References: |
van Soest (1980), Zea (1987), Ruetzler et al. (2009). |
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| Similar species: |
Niphates digitalis |
Callyspongia vaginalis |
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