Splendid Sponges

An interactive guide to sponges of New Zealand.

Sponges are the most common marine invertebrates that inhabit the New Zealand coastline and harbours, from the intertidal zone down to the continental shelf, deep ocean trenches, and abyssal plains. They are a magnificent and very diverse group of sea creatures. Now you can identify the most commonly encountered species in the field with Splendid sponges, a fully illustrated interactive pdf with high-quality images of the animals in life. Just click on an image in the morphology index and you will be taken to a species page packed with information, beautiful images, and icons to simplify identification. New species are added as they are available, so divers, please send us your images to be considered for up and coming versions! Version 4.0 (December 2022) is available for download:

Splendid Sponges ID Guide [PDF 74 MB]

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Pararhaphoxya sinclairi (Gray, 1843). [Crispin Middleton, NIWA]
Dendrilla cf. rosea Lendenfeld, 1883. [Crispin Middleton, NIWA]