''Cymbastela lamellata'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of marine

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

in the family

Axinellidae Axinellidae is a family of sponges in the order Axinellida. This family includes some photo-synthetic sponges that occur throughout the world's coral reefs. They are amongst the more common sponges seen in the aquarium trade but are usually not ...

. The sponge was first described in 1961 by

Patricia Bergquist Dame Patricia Rose Bergquist (née Smyth, 10 March 1933 – 9 September 2009) was a New Zealand zoologist who specialised in anatomy and taxonomy. At the time of her death, she was professor emerita of zoology and honorary professor of anatomy ...

as ''Axinella lamellata'', However the name had already been used, and she renamed it in 1970 as ''Axinella tricalciformis''. It is known from both the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...

and from waters around

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, where it has been found at depths of 6-90 m. It is a sessile, filter feeder. ''C. lamellata'' is a dominant marine sponge in Fiordland,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. A mass bleaching event (akin to

coral bleaching Coral bleaching is the process when corals become white due to various stressors, such as changes in temperature, light, or nutrients. Bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel the zooxanthellae (dinoflagellates that are commonly referred to as alg ...

) of ''C. lamellata'' was reported throughout much of Fiordland following a heatwave in mid-2022, causing ''C. lamellata'' to expel their symbiotic algae. This was the largest case of temperate sponge bleaching ever recorded. Despite the bleaching event, most of the bleached sponges were found to be still alive, although at intensified risk of fish predation.

References

Axinellidae Taxa named by Patricia Bergquist {{demosponge-stub