Iotrochota birotulata (Hinggin, 1877)
Green finger sponge
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Family:  Iotrochotidae ()
Max. size:  60 cm TL (male/unsexed)
Environment:  sessile; brackish; marine; depth range 1 - 91 m
Distribution:  Indo-Pacific and Western Atlantic: Caribbean wide.
Diagnosis:  Sprawling ramose branches, with spiky surface up to 60 cm long; 1 - 5 cm wide. Black with green patches internally and externally. Oscula 0.1 - 0.3 cm in diameter, on side of branches (Ref. 415). Smaller specimens grows as lobes, runners, massive or encrusting. Surface: covered with conules; mostly or entirely smooth for small specimens. Sometimes greenish-yellow. Tough consistency; resilient and barely compressible. Exudate is dark purplish when squeezed. Oscules are scattered or in a row, slightly raised on small lobes and surrounded by a thin collar (Ref. 85482).
Biology:  Reef; mangrove; seagrass environments (Ref. 415). On hard substrates, often hosting the zoanthid Parazoanthus swiftii (Ref. 85482). Commensal with amphipods (Ref. 82302).
IUCN Red List Status: Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. 123251)
Threat to humans:  harmless
Country info:   
 

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