Sponges

Below you’ll see examples of sponges I’ve encountered on the surf-swept shores of the northern Oregon coast. Field guides and online resources (see References, at the bottom of this page) help with identification of the common rocky intertidal sponges, but all of them tell us identification is going to be tough for non-experts; microscopic examination of the spicules may be needed. Thus, any identifications I give are tentative and open to interpretation.

My organization more or less follows Lamb and Hanby (2005). Common names are my choice. I refer to WoRMS for scientific names, the World Porifera Database if I want more information, and I learn a ton by browsing the natural history riches in Kozloff (1993). All photos are from northern Oregon unless otherwise noted in the caption.

Let’s enjoy the sponges!

Isodictya rigida, orange finger sponge
I encountered this one among sea wrack. It’s a tentative identification, but the common name works for me.

Orange finger sponge in the drift line
Washed ashore in a mass of drift macroalgae

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Halichondria (Halichondria) panicea

Halichondria (Halichondria) panicea graces a tidepool’s edge
Does it smell like spent gunpowder?
H. panicea sometimes goes by bread-crumb sponge 

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Purple encrusting sponge
This beautiful intertidal sponge is shown as Haliclona permollis in some of the references and online guides shown at the bottom of this page. If I understand the current interpretation, Haliclona permollis is a synonym of Haliclona cinerea. Keeping up with taxonomic revisions is part of the fun.

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Of red encrusting sponges, there are plenty, Clathria, Axocielita, Antho, and Acarnus are all possible in the intertidal, and they can be hard to tell apart. I’m guessing some or all of the selection below are Clathria pennata, though some guides note that C. pennata is indistinguishable in the field from Axocielita originalis.

A bright red sponge surrounded by aggregating anemones, exposed at low tide
What’s the bright yellow neighbor, another sponge? | See yellow sponge, below
Sharing space with purple encrusting sponge, Haliclona
It’s common to find velvety red sponges and red sponge nudibranchs together
A beautiful low intertidal scene
Red sponges add a splash of low intertidal color
Life is a scramble in the rocky intertidal

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Yellow sponge?- I think this splash of yellow is a sponge, but I don’t find much similar to this in the guides I consult. If you know what it is, please let me know.

A smooth yellow possible sponge exposed in the low in the low intertidal
A low intertidal sponge?

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From the drift line- This velvety beauty arrived in the drift line in a mass of drifted seaweed.

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A subtidal sponge

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References

Harbo, R. M. 2011. Whelks to Whales: Coastal Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. 2nd ed. Harbour Publishing Co.

Kozloff, E. N. 1993. Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast. 3rd ed. University of Washington Press.

Lamb, A. and B. P. Hanby. 2005. Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. Harbour Publishing.

Sept. J. D. 2009. The Beachcomber’s Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest. Revised ed. Harbour Publishing.

Online Resources

Biodiversity of the Central Coast’s Sponges page

Friends of Netarts Bay WEBS Sponges page

World Porifera Database

iNaturalist’s pages on sponges are full of good browsing material. Here are some I looked at while preparing this page:

Haliclona cinerea
Acarnus erithacus
Red Velvet Sponge


This page was updated on April 16, 2022