Beautiful Marine Sponges - Caribbean Underwater Gallery II Last Image

The Caribbean pink vase sponge (Dasychalina cyathina), with a Deep Water Gorgonian (Icilogorgia Schrammi) to the left of the habitat. The wall is sprinkled with red and pink Encrusting Sponge.

  South Coast, Grand Cayman Island  - Depth 125 feet or 38 meters

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Beautiful Marine Sponges

Caribbean Underwater Photography Gallery II

 
 
 
*The above Caribbean Pink Vase Sponge (Dasychalina cyathina) is here attached to a near vertical wall sprinkled with red and pink Encrusting Sponge. To the left is a Deep Water Gorgonian (Icilogorgia Schrammi).  The scoured appearance of the wall we estimate is due to the season, and the vigorous water motion typical of Grand Cayman's South Coast, even at these depths. 

The name 'Caribbean Pink Vase Sponge' can be misleading.  We have found (Dasychalina cyathina)  in a variety of habitats throughout the Grand Cayman Islands, each with its own  form.  These range from a white, open form in a deep protected crevice on the Grand Cayman's South coast (1), to forms at a spot on the Bloody Bay Wall of Little Cayman Island, where the Pink Vase Sponges were not vases at all, but fan-like forms (2).

 

Lighthouse Wall, South Coast, Grand Cayman Island  - Depth 125 feet or 38 meters  -  Time 10:00 am

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