Azure Vase Sponge in Cozumel

A vivid electric blue-violet vase with a deeply grooved, folded surface. The colour is genuinely fluorescent and reads as neon under a torch.

Quick ID

Where You Will See It In Cozumel

Azure Vase Sponge works the 32 to 98 foot band. On this island that means the sheltered west-coast reefs — these are the sites where the depth and the habitat line up for it.

Without a boat. It is worth looking for at El Presidente, Playa Corona and Chankanaab Shallow — all shore entries, so you dive them on your own schedule.

On an ordinary beginner boat dive. It should be within reach at Las Palmas, Molas Shallow, Palancar Gardens, Paradise and Punta Dalila. No advanced certification needed.

Deeper, and on the walls. It is also plausible on Los Atolones, Maracaibo, Palancar Bricks and Palancar Caves.

Conditions change the odds more than the site does — the current, the time of day and how much the group has already stirred up the sand. Ask your guide what they have been seeing that week.

Behaviour

Filters water through the vase wall and expels it through the central opening. The blue-violet colour comes from pigments that appear to protect the sponge from light.

Commonly Confused With

• Branching vase sponge — Branching vase sponges are pink-brown and lobed rather than a single smooth violet vase.
• Stove-pipe sponge — Stove-pipe sponges form clusters of tall tubes, usually grey or purple-brown.

Diving Etiquette And Safety

Do not touch. Sponge surfaces carry a living layer that damages easily.

Part of the Cozumel marine life guide · see Cozumel dive sites · plan your Cozumel dive trip

Photo: Nick Hobgood, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.