''Pipestela terpenensis'' 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 1993 by

Jane Fromont Phyllis Jane Fromont is a New Zealand and Australian scientist specialising in sponges. Early life and education Fromont was raised in Whanganui, New Zealand, the youngest of six children. She became interested in marine biology after scuba div ...

as ''Amphimedon terpenensis'' from a specimen collected at a depth of 19 m on MacGillivray Reef, Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef. The species epithet, ''terpenensis'', was given because of the large proportion of terpenes in this sponge.

Description

P. terpenensis is a red-brown sponge with a thin maroon band due partially to the sponge's pigment but also to a symbiont cyanobacteria. It is tall and sometimes the branches look like flattened organ pipes.

Habitat

It grows on reefs in full light, on dead coral or rock at depths of 10 to 20.

References

Axinellidae Sponge genera Taxa described in 1993 Taxa named by Jane Fromont {{demosponge-stub