Demospongiae | 
Haplosclerida | 
Petrosiidae
			
			
			
				Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range				
				
					Ecology				
				
			
			
				Sessile; brackish; depth range 1 - 10 m (Ref. 108813).  Tropical			
			
			
				
			
			
			
				Pacific Ocean and Western Central Atlantic.
			
			
			
			
			
				Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
			
			
				Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm			
			
			
							
				
				
					
						Massive.  Lobate to repent branches with fistules that break off easily.  Black externally and internally.  Smooth surface with scattered membrane bearing oscules; 0.3 - 0.5 cm in diameter, located on top of volcano-shaped elevations.  Brittle to pulpy in consistency (Ref. 415).  May appear as thick encrustation, usually partly buried or heavily covered with sediment.  Releases black exudate when damaged.  Oscules round and irregularly distributed; with thin walls (Ref. 85482).					
				
				
						
			
			
			
			
				
					Very common between coral rubble, in shallow reefs, seagrass beds, and mangroves (Ref. 415).  Common on shallow lagoon bottoms; encrusting dead corals or rocks (Ref. 85482).				
			
			
			
			
			
				Life cycle and mating behavior				
					Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae				
			
			
				
					Members of the class Demospongiae are hermaphroditic.  Life cycle:  The zygote develops into parenchymella larva (free-swimming) before settling down on a substrate where it grows into a young sponge.				
			
			
			
			
			
				Collin, R., M.C. Díaz, J. Norenburg, R.M. Rocha, J.A. Sánchez, M. Schulze, A. Schwartz and A. Valdés 2005 Photographic identification guide to some common marine invertebrates of Bocas Del Toro, Panama. Caribbean Journal of Science. 41(3):638-707. (Ref. 415)
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
					
						IUCN Red List Status    
						 (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)
					
					
					
				
			
			
			
			
				CITES status   (Ref. 108899)
			
			
				
					Not Evaluated				
			
			
			
			
			
			
				
					Not Evaluated				
			
			
			
			
			
				Threat to humans  
			
			
				
					  Harmless				
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
				Human uses  
			
			
							
			
			
				 | FishSource | 			
			
			
			
			
			
Tools
			
			
			
			
				
					More information				
				
					 Trophic EcologyFood items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Predators
  Population dynamicsGrowth
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Abundance
  Life cycleReproductionMaturityFecunditySpawningEggsEgg developmentLarvae   PhysiologyOxygen consumption
  Human RelatedStamps, coins, misc.
  
			 
			
			
			
				Internet sources
			
			
			
			
			
				Estimates based on models
			
			
			
									
						Preferred temperature  					
				 (Ref. 
115969): 26.6 - 29.2, mean 28.5 (based on 1101 cells).			
 
			
			
			
			
			
						
						
						
			
									
						Price category  					
					
					Unknown.