Title: "Vascula #1"

(closeup of encrusting sponge, Genus Spheciospongia)

Chuuk, Micronesia, November, 2008

TOTAL EDITION: 200

SIZE: 11.5" X 16.5"

(29 cm X 42 cm)

I found this colorful sponge growing on the hull of a Japanese shipwreck in Truk Lagoon. Sponges are filter-feeders. Water is siphoned into the porous body of the sponge, where suspended food can be trapped, then the “filtered” water is pumped out through a network of dendritic hollow channels which converge in openings called “oscules.”