 |
|
| sponges text index | photo index |
| Phylum Porifera |
| Brown
prickly branching sponge Ircinia sp.* Family Irciniidae updated Oct 2016 Where seen? This brown branching sponge with a prickly surface is often seen on coral rubble on some of our Southern shores. Features: 10-15cm. The sponge may be dome shaped without any protrusions, or have knobs, rounded fingers, lobes or branching (4-10cm) emerging from an encrusting base. Few small holes at the tips of the rounded branches, as well as other parts of the sponge. Surface with tiny bumps, that appears spiky and prickly when the sponge is out of water. Colour usually a uniform brown, also orangey or yellow. Sometimes, another Iricinia species is seen that is boulder-shaped with a spiky surface that resembles jagged mountains. Dark brown outside, paler brown inside. Another species that may appear similar is Dactylospongia elegans. |
 Chek Jawa, Jan 02 |
 Sentosa, Jun 05 |
 |
 |
 Sentosa, Mar 07  |
 Terumbu Pempang Laut, Aug 10  |
 Pulau Pawai, Dec 09  |
*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
| Brown prickly branching sponges on Singapore shores |
| Photos of Brown prickly branching sponges for free download from wildsingapore flickr |
| Distribution in Singapore on this wildsingapore flickr map |
 Terumbu Berkas, Jan 10  |
 Terumbu Salu, Jan 10  |
 Pulau Salu, Jun 10  |
 Pulau Senang, Jun 10  |
 Pulau Senang, Jun 10  |
 Terumbu Bukom, Nov 10 |
|
Links
References
|