Corticium candelabrum

The species occurs in shallow water in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, including the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira, and the Iberian Peninsula from Biarritz southwards to Gibraltar. It also occurs in the Western Mediterranean Sea and Adriatic Sea. It is found in coralline algae communities in shady positions, on vertical walls, under overhangs and in caves, at depths down to about 20 m (70 ft).^[3] It is one of the most widely distributed sponges in the Mediterranean.^[2]

Like other sponges, C. candelabrum draws water into its body through the small pores, filters out and ingests the nutritional particles, and expels the water through the oscula. It feeds on small particles under three micrometres in diameter, such as bacteria, unicellular algae and organic debris.^[3] The sea slug Berthella ocellata sometimes feeds on the sponge, rasping off fragments with its radula.^[4]

This sponge is a hermaphrodite, but the male and female gametes mature at different times, so it does not self-fertilise. The sperm are liberated into the sea and if they are drawn into another sponge of the same species, they are engulfed by cells containing the eggs and fertilisation occurs. The larvae are retained within the sponge until they reached their final stage of development after which they are expelled into the water column, soon after which they settle on the substrate and metamorphose into juvenile sponges.^[3]