Sponge · carnivorous demosponge

Carnivorous umbrella sponge

Cladorhiza kensmithi

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

About 2,500 to 4,100 m, on the mud off California

Size

About 20 cm tall

Diet

Small crustaceans caught in its trap

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• It does not filter water like other sponges. It hunts.
• Its long filaments are covered with tiny hooks that snag small crustaceans. Then the sponge envelops them and slowly digests them.
• A thin stalk carries an umbrella-shaped disk. Researchers nicknamed it the “Sputnik sponge”.
• It is named after deep-sea biologist Ken Smith. It was described in 2017.

Verified sources

1. MBARI : Newly described parasol sponges are graceful but deadly
2. Lundsten, Reiswig & Austin 2017, Zootaxa 4317 : Three new species of Cladorhiza
3. MBARI Annual Report 2017 : Delicate-looking sponges prove to be carnivorous

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Scarlet king crabLithodes couesi Atlantic batfishDibranchus atlanticus Bone-eating zombie wormOsedax rubiplumus Carcass bacterial matsBeggiatoa spp. GrenadierFamily Macrouridae Tripod fishBathypterois grallator