• Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Porifera
  • Class: Demospongiae
  • Order: Halichondrida
  • Family: Axinellidae
  • Scientific name: Axinella infundibuliformis
  • Norwegian: traktsvamp

Characteristics:

Quite easy to identify because of its funnel shape, but not all individuals have a closed funnel. Some look more like a wave (below) and may be confused with the Phakellia ventilabrum. The funnel may reach a diameter of 25 cm. The color is usually white or light yellow. The color is influenced by the habitat. Gray individuals are not unusual.

Habitat:

A. infundibuliformis is usually found from the sublittoral zone and down as deep as 600-700 meters. It seems to prefer gravel or rocky substrate.

Distribution:

This is a fairly common sponge in the North-East Atlantic. It is well known on the British Islands, Faroes and along the coast of Norway and France.