Stovepipe sponge
Aplysina archeri (Higgin, 1875)
Status not recordedsponges
The stovepipe sponge (Aplysina archeri) is a sponge in the family Aplysinidae, part of the invertebrate phylum Porifera. It belongs to the class Demospongiae and the order Verongiida, within the genus Aplysina.
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Quick facts about the stovepipe sponge
Its scientific name carries the authority (Higgin, 1875), and the Catalogue of Life lists it as a living, not extinct, species.
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the stovepipe sponge
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the stovepipe sponge live?
Not recorded
What is the stovepipe sponge?
Aplysina archeri, also known as a stove-pipe sponge because of its shape, is a species of tube sponge that has long tube-like structures of cylindrical shape. Although they can grow in a single tube, they often grow in large groups of up to 22 tubes. A single tube can grow up to 5 feet (1.5 m) high and 3 inches (7.6 cm) thick. These sponges mostly live in the Western Atlantic Ocean: the Caribbean, The Bahamas, Florida, and Bonaire. Like most sponges, they are filter feeders; they eat food such as plankton or suspended detritus as it passes them. Very little is known about their behavioral patterns except for their feeding ecology and reproductive biology. Tubes occur in varying colors including lavender, pink, gray, and brown. They reproduce both by asexual and sexual reproduction. These sponges take hundreds of years to grow and never stop growing until they die. Snails are among their natural predators. The population density of these sponges is decreasing because of oil spills and other pollution.
From the Wikipedia article “Aplysina archeri” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aplysina_archeri&oldid=1283794885), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the stovepipe sponge endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the stovepipe sponge classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumPorifera
- classDemospongiae
- orderVerongiida
- familyAplysinidae
- genusAplysina
- SpeciesAplysina archeri (Higgin, 1875)
Synonyms Luffaria archeri, Verongia archeri
Other names and names in other languages (2)
- Stove-pipe spongeEnglish
- Esponja-tubo-de-fogãoPortuguese
Relatives of the stovepipe sponge
Other species in the same genus Aplysina.
Gold sponge
Aplysina aerophoba
Yellow cave sponge
Aplysina cavernicola
Candle sponge
Aplysina fistularis
Row pore rope sponge
Aplysina cauliformis
Scattered pore rope sponge
Aplysina fulva
Yellow tube sponge
Aplysina insularis
CompareStovepipe sponge vs Gold spongeStovepipe sponge vs Yellow cave spongeStovepipe sponge vs Candle spongeStovepipe sponge vs Row pore rope sponge
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the stovepipe sponge?
The stovepipe sponge is a sponge, an invertebrate in the phylum Porifera and the class Demospongiae.
What is the scientific name of the stovepipe sponge?
Its scientific name is Aplysina archeri, placed in the genus Aplysina.
What family does the stovepipe sponge belong to?
It belongs to the family Aplysinidae, in the order Verongiida.
Who named the stovepipe sponge and when?
The scientific name Aplysina archeri has the authority (Higgin, 1875).
Is the stovepipe sponge extinct?
No. The Catalogue of Life lists the stovepipe sponge as living, not extinct.
What other names does the stovepipe sponge have?
It is also called the stove-pipe sponge in English.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Stovepipe sponge (Aplysina archeri). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/stovepipe-sponge
“Stovepipe sponge (Aplysina archeri).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/stovepipe-sponge.
@misc{stovepipe_sponge_2026,
title = {Stovepipe sponge (Aplysina archeri)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/stovepipe-sponge},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}