Cloud sponges (Aphrocallistes vastus) are a prehistoric sponge typically found only in deep cold seas. Their unique and fragile skeletal formation makes cloud sponges extremely sensitive to the slightest touch, sedimentation, and to physical disturbances from bottom trawling fishing activity. They are sometimes called “glass” sponges because their structure is made up of very sharp fused spicules of silica. Cloud sponge are found in the northern Pacific Ocean and their range includes Japan, Siberia, the Aleutian Islands and the west coast of North America from Alaska southwards to California and Mexico. It is a reef-building species found in deeper waters on the western Canadian shelf growing on sediment-free rocks. They grow in fiords off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, beginning at depths of 25 metres (82 feet), or more.
