Yellow Tube Sponge | Oceana
Home / Yellow Tube Sponge

Marine Life Encyclopedia

Corals and Other Invertebrates

Yellow Tube Sponge

Aplysina fistularis

Distribution

Tropical western Atlantic Ocean from Florida (and Bermuda) to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico

ECOSYSTEM/HABITAT

Coral and rocky reefs

FEEDING HABITS

Filter feeder

TAXONOMY

Phylum Porifera (sponges)

The yellow tube sponge is a relatively large sponge (to over 3 feet/1 m) that lives on coral reefs around the Caribbean Sea and its adjacent waters. The common name is an accurate description of the species, with individuals typically having a yellowish color (sometimes almost iridescent yellow-blue at deeper depths) and consisting of one or more tube-like structures

These tubes are open at the top and closed at the base and provide habitat for many other species of invertebrates (including crabs and shrimps) and reef fishes (including gobies and cardinalfishes). Yellow tube sponges, like all sponges, are attached to the reef surface and are unable to move. If pieces of an individual are broken off by predators or during a storm, they can reattach and begin growing a new sponge.

Together, the sponges make up one of the oldest, most primitive groups of animals on Earth. Sponges have existed for at least 500 million years. Sponge cells do not have specialized purposes. Each of a sponge’s individual cells can transform to complete the job of any other cell in the body. This lack of specialization means that sponges do not have tissues, like every other type of animal. In fact, in laboratory settings, a sponge that is destroyed in a blender can reform itself as the cells swim back together and take on the form and job needed for recovery. Yellow tube sponges feed by filtering water through the body wall, trapping food particles and excreting waste materials into the inner bowl or tube. The, now filtered, wastewater exits the sponge through the large opening at the top (called an osculum). They also obtain oxygen from the water during this process.

Some species of reef fishes eat yellow tube sponges, but the primary predator is the hawksbill turtle. Yellow tube sponges reproduce both sexually and asexually, with asexual reproduction typically occurring only when storms or other disturbances break off part of the body. Newly settled sponges (resulting from either sexual or asexual reproduction) require a hard surface to which they attach and begin to grow. On heavily disturbed reefs, where sediment or algae cover most hard surfaces, the yellow tube sponge can struggle to establish itself.

Most sponges have a glass-like skeletal structure made of silicates, but the yellow tube sponge does not. Consequently, it has been collected for use as a bath sponge in the past. Fortunately for this species, synthetic sponges have eliminated the market for its fishery, and it is only rarely collected today. However, because this species lives mostly on coral reefs, changes to that fragile system caused by irresponsible human behavior may threaten the yellow tube sponge.

Engage Youth with Sailors for the Sea

Oceana joined forces with Sailors for the Sea, an ocean conservation organization dedicated to educating and engaging the world’s boating community. Sailors for the Sea developed the KELP (Kids Environmental Lesson Plans) program to create the next generation of ocean stewards. Click here or below to download hands-on marine science activities for kids.

Kids Environmental Lesson Plans

Get Involved

Donate Today

SUPPORT OUR WORK TO PROTECT THE OCEANS BY GIVING TODAY

With the support of more than 1 million activists like you, we have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean.

Donate Now

TAKE ACTION NOW

Support policy change for the oceans

Decision-makers need to hear from ocean lovers like you. Make your voice heard!

Sign Now

VISIT OUR ADOPTION CENTER

SYMBOLICALLY ADOPT AN ANIMAL TODAY

Visit our online store to see all the ocean animals you can symbolically adopt, either for yourself or as a gift for someone else.

Shop Today

DOWNLOAD OCEAN ACTIVITIES

HELP KIDS DISCOVER OUR BLUE PLANET

Our free KELP (Kids Environmental Lesson Plans) empower children to learn about and protect our oceans!

Learn More

FEATURED CAMPAIGN

Save the Oceans, Feed the World

We are restoring the world’s wild fish populations to serve as a sustainable source of protein for people.

Learn More

More Campaigns

Protect Habitat

Bycatch

Plastics

View All

CONTACT

Oceana International Headquarters
1025 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036 USA

General Inquiries
+1(202)-833-3900
info@oceana.org

Donation Inquiries
+1(202)-996-7174
wavemaker@oceana.org

Press Inquiries
+1(202)-833-3900
press@oceana.org

OCEANA'S EFFICIENCY

BECOME A WAVEMAKER

Sign up today to get weekly updates and action alerts from Oceana.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT WITH A DONATION

We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.

Donate Now

QUICK LINKS: