Golf ball sponge

Tethya aurantium · The golf ball sponge is a round, warty sea sponge that lives in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and along parts of the African and North American coasts.

Also called Orange puffball sponge.

Golf ball sponge
Photo: John Turnbull, CC BY-SA 2.0
Golf ball sponge
Photo: Chris Taklis, CC BY 4.0
Golf ball sponge
Photo: Ed Bierman, CC BY 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumPorifera
ClassDemospongiae
OrderTethyida
FamilyTethyidae
GenusTethya
SpeciesTethya aurantium

Where it lives

Mediterranean, north-east Atlantic, southern Africa, and Alaska to Baja California.

Fun facts

  • Its surface is covered in sharp, protruding spicules that can irritate your skin if you touch it.
  • Unlike most sponges, its water-outlet openings, called osculum, are hard to see with the naked eye.
  • It feeds by filtering water through pores on its body and catching microscopic plankton with flagella.
  • Off the Pacific coast of North America, it has been found from the low tide line down to 440 metres deep.

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The Golf ball sponge was the creature in the Marine daily on November 12, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).