Crambe crambe

Crambe
Crambe crambe from Elba
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Porifera
Class:	Demospongiae
Order:	Poecilosclerida
Family:	Crambeidae
Genus:	Crambe
Species:	C. crambe
Binomial name
Crambe crambe (Schmidt, 1862)
Synonyms
Desmacidon harpago Vosmaer, 1880 Haliclona labyrinthica (Schmidt, 1864) Hemimycale ambigua Sarà, 1960 Hemimycale brevicuspis (Topsent, 1892) Plicatella labyrinthica (Schmidt, 1864) Reniera labyrinthica Schmidt, 1864 Stylinos brevicuspis Topsent, 1892 Suberites arcicola Schmidt, 1862 Suberites crambe Schmidt, 1862 Suberites fruticosus Schmidt, 1862 Tetranthella fruticosa (Schmidt, 1862)

Crambe crambe, the oyster sponge or orange-red encrusting sponge, is a species of demosponges belonging to the family Crambeidae.

The colonies of Crambe crambe form thin orange to orange-red plates, rarely lobed, with a very rough surface perforated by raised oscula found along the exhaling channels. These colonies can cover a surface of 1 m².

Crambe crambe feeds by filtering bacteria, microorganisms and single-celled algae. This species is hermaphrodite. Larvae are planktonic. These demosponges often cover the shell of live shellfish (Arca noae, Spondylus and various sedentary bivalves). Eupolymnia nebulosa sometimes hides itself on these sponges.

This species is endemic to the Mediterranean, but it is also present in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the English Channel and in the North Sea.

Crambe crambe commonly occurs in well-lit waters on hard substrate at depths of 5 to 30 m.

Arca noae coveded by Crambe crambe

Eupolymnia nebulosa on Crambe crambe

Crambe crambe

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Wikipedia