''Pipestela hooperi'' is a species of

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 ...

belonging to 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 species was first described in 1996 by

Rob van Soest Robertus Wilhelmus Maria (Rob) van Soest, born in 1946, is a Dutch marine biologist. He works at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and is also affiliated with the University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, n ...

and others as ''Cymbastela hooperi'' from a specimen collected from Kelso Reef in the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

. The species epithet, ''hooperi'', honours John Hooper.

References

Axinellidae Sponge genera Taxa described in 1996 Taxa named by Rob van Soest {{demosponge-stub