#4929 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
Bread-crumb Sponge
🇳🇱 Gewone broodspons ·Halichondria panicea
📍 Duxbury Reef, Marin, California, United States
📍 Capital, BC, Canada
📍 Zeeuwse meren, 158_13_400, NL
📍 Avila Beach, CA, USA
📍 Ards, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Nicolas Jouault · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Glenn Biscop · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Glenn Biscop · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Bernard Picton · CC BY 4.0
- 5. © Ian Manning · CC BY 4.0
- 6. Duxbury Reef, Marin, California, United States:© Alison Young · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. Capital, BC, Canada:© craigpigott · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. Zeeuwse meren, 158_13_400, NL:© Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. Avila Beach, CA, USA:© Tom Turner · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. Ards, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom:© Bernard Picton · CC BY 4.0
what is it?
Halichondria panicea , commonly known as the breadcrumb sponge , is a species of marine demosponge belonging to the family Halichondriidae. This is an abundant sponge of coastal areas of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea ranging from the intertidal zone to a recorded depth of over 550 m. It is very tolerant of a wide range of coastal habitats, including strong currents, high salinity and exposure to powerful wave action. Its only requirement is a rocky...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 9 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 3,453 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Peter Simon Pallas in 1766 (260 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Bread-crumb Sponge
- Nederlands
- Gewone broodspons
- scientific name
- Halichondria panicea
- class
- Demospongiae
- order
- Suberitida
- family
- Halichondriidae
- sightings in NL
- 9
- sightings in Europe
- 589
- sightings worldwide
- 3,453
- GBIF records in NL
- 863
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1766 by Peter Simon Pallas
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 186854, Wikidata Q990870, GBIF 2249942, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.