Form: Tubular, perhaps even bell shaped; with thin hard flexible stalk and terminal oscules. May have a single tube or several branches of the main stalk, or the body of sponge may branch; the branches may anastomose, and may be slightly flattened. Body to ca. 15cm long, with stalk typically less than half of the body length, proportionally more in smaller specimens.

Colour: Beige, ?yellow?

Smell: None to 'slight spongy'.

Consistency: Soft, flexible.

Surface: Smooth.

Apertures:

• Oscules are large, terminal.

Contraction:

• Not noticeable.

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Synonyms: Isodictya clava Bowerbank, 1866:316; Chalina pulcherrima Fristedt, 1885:49; "Stalked tubular Haliclona" This guide (Sponge IV). See also de Weerdt, 1986.

Internal characters

Skeleton: A rather irregular net, one or two spicules thick.

Spicules: Oxea 110-155 x 3-7 μm. Sizes may vary with geographical latitude, or water temperature.

Identity: Previously two species were thought to have been involved. "Haliclona clava" with erect, cylindrical, smooth tubes, and "Haliclona urceolus" with a softer, limper, consistency and more shaggy appearance. However the high degree of overlap between these forms convinced de Weerdt of their synonymy.

Distribution Map from NBN: Haliclona urceolus at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Haliclona urceolus at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

WoRMS: Haliclona urceolus at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Haliclona (Haliclona) urceolus (Rathke & Vahl, 1806). AphiaID: 150256.

Classification: Biota; Animalia; Porifera; Demospongiae; Heteroscleromorpha; Haplosclerida; Chalinidae; Haliclona

Voucher: BELUM : Mc647. Coll, Hebrides.

Editors: D. Moss, B.E. Picton.