Barrett's horny sponge

About this species

Geodia barretti is a massive deep-sea sponge species found in the boreal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is fairly common on the coasts of Norway and Sweden. It is a dominant species in boreal sponge grounds. Supported by morphology and molecular data, this species is classified in the family Geodiidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Geodia barretti”, 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: 0 records
February: 29 records
March: 47 records
April: 16 records
May: 123 records
June: 148 records
July: 157 records
August: 337 records
September: 115 records
October: 89 records
November: 72 records
December: 2 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 224–2,776 m · Deepest record: 2,889 m

40–50 m: 2 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 1 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110–120 m: 0 records
120–130 m: 0 records
130–140 m: 0 records
140–150 m: 0 records
150+ m: 201 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -1–26 °C

-2–0 °C: 13 records
0–2 °C: 18 records
2–4 °C: 15 records
4–6 °C: 27 records
6–8 °C: 113 records
8–10 °C: 60 records
10–12 °C: 667 records
12–14 °C: 12 records
14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 56 records
20–22 °C: 4 records
22–24 °C: 5 records
24–26 °C: 5 records

Photos

(c) Bernard Picton, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Bernard Picton · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard Picton, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Bernard Picton · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard Picton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard Picton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Paco Cardenas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Barrett's horny sponge

Names in 1 more languages

French: éponge de Barrett

Other scientific names: Cydonium barretti, Geodia simplicissima

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).
4,527 open-data records from 1871 to 2023.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.