Crater sponge

Dysidea arenaria

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth10–73 m
Water temperature17–30 °C
Best monthsMay, September, and November
How commonRare

Photo credit: (c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Dysidea arenaria is a species of marine sponge (poriferan) found in the Pacific Ocean. It is a member of the order Dictyoceratida, one of two sponge orders that make up the keratose or "horny" sponges in which a mineral skeleton is absent and a skeleton of organic fibers is present instead.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Dysidea arenaria”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 23 records
February: 15 records
March: 15 records
April: 14 records
May: 33 records
June: 22 records
July: 24 records
August: 13 records
September: 34 records
October: 31 records
November: 33 records
December: 31 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 10–73 m · Deepest record: 78.4 m

0–10 m: 5 records
10–20 m: 7 records
20–30 m: 16 records
30–40 m: 7 records
40–50 m: 4 records
50–60 m: 5 records
60–70 m: 10 records
70–80 m: 7 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 17–30 °C

16–18 °C: 14 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 7 records
24–26 °C: 67 records
26–28 °C: 84 records
28–30 °C: 49 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Irvine, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Irvine, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Crater sponge, crater sponge

Names in 1 more languages

German: Kraterschwamm

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
257 open-data records from 1955 to 2024.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.

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