Breadcrumb Sponge (Halichondria panicea)

Description: Breadcrumb sponge is also known as yellow-green encrusting sponge because of its yellow to green color. This species has many pores but they are not always as noticeable or as numerous as the purple encrusting sponge. Mats of the sponge stick off the rock further/thicker than other encrusting sponges and can be up to 5 cm thick.

Habitat: This sponge can be found from the Bering Sea in Alaska to Baja California, Mexico. It’s also seen on the Atlantic side of the Artic ocean down to Cape Cod, and in many other places around the northern hemisphere. It lives in the mid intertidal zone down to 100 m deep.

Diet: As a species of sponge, breadcrumb sponge also filter feeds for detritus, plankton, or other particles in the water column.

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• Monterey sea lemon nudibranchs eat breadcrumb sponge and are often found nearby.

• Breadcrumb sponge has a very strong and distinctive smell that some people have compared to the smell of ignited gunpowder. This smell comes from a substance in the sponge that is meant to deter predators from eating it.

Reference: The New Beachcomber’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest by J Duane Sept