Hippospongia communis   (Lamarck, 1813)

Honey comb

Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Hippospongia communis  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos 
 | All pictures | Google image |
Image of Hippospongia communis (Honey comb)
Hippospongia communis

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Demospongiae | Dictyoceratida | Spongiidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Sessile; depth range 5 - 80 m (Ref. 363).  Subtropical; 46°N - 25°N, 19°W - 36°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Eastern Central Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm Max length : 30.0 cm WD male/unsexed; (Ref. 363)

Short description Morphology

Massive sponge; on surface equipped with conules very irregularly dispersed. A thin and generally smooth ectosome covers the surface gaps. Sponge: traversed great gaps méandriformes. Rare primary fibers: 0.0060 to 0.01 cm diameter; formed by the anastomoses of several fibers at their end in the conules; and containing foreign bodies. Secondary fibers: 0.0025 to 0.003 cm diameter. Coloring: darkish gray with yellowish on the surface, often brown white orange inside (Ref. 363).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Importance: It is the principal species currently exploited. The essence of the production comes from Tunisia. It is used for the domestic uses, the toilet and certain industries (Ref. 363). Common between 5 and 30 m of depth, would go down up to 80 m to Libya (Ref. 363).

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.

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Vacelet, J. 1987. (Ref. 363)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial
| FishSource |

Tools

E-book | Field guide

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Common names
Synonyms
Predators
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Morphology
Larvae
Abundance
References
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 15.2 - 21.6, mean 18.8 (based on 158 cells).
Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Low vulnerability (20 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.