Purple
branching sponge
Callyspongia sp.*
Family
Callyspongiidae
updated Dec 11
Where
seen?
Like a little purple bush, this sponge is commonly seen on stones
and other hard surfaces near the mid-water mark on our Northern shores.
Features: A bunch of 'stems' slender (1-1.5cm thick) and
long (10-15cm), usually growing upright but sometimes sprawling horizontally
hugging the surface. The stems are not extensively branched and cylindrical
with rounded tips (not tapering). With small shallow holes regularly
spaced along the length of the 'stem' (not just at the tips, and the
'stem' is not a hollow tube). The surface texture is rough. Colours
usually purple to lilac.
These sponges are draped with sponge
synaptid sea cucumbers at some times of the year. |
Pulau Sekudu,
Jan 06
|

Sometimes draped with
synaptid sea cucumbers
Chek Jawa, Aug 05
|

Chek Jawa, Feb 02
|

Pulau Sekudu, Jan 06
|
Purple
branching sponges on Singapore shores

Pulau Sekudu, Jun 04 
|

Tuas, Dec 03
|

Pulau Sekudu, Jul 06
|
more photos of purple
branching sponges on Singapore shores
part 1 | part
2
*Species
are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience
of display.
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