Codium spongiosum

{{Short description|Species of seaweed}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Codium spongiosum Réunion.jpg

|image_caption = Codium spongiosum in a lagoon on Réunion

|status =

|status_system =

|genus = Codium

|species = spongiosum

|authority = Harv.

}}

Codium spongiosum is a species of seaweed in the family Codiaceae.{{FloraBase|name=Codium spongiosum|id=26683}}

The light-green thallus has an applanate-to-pulvinate habit and is usually around {{cvt|10|to|25|cm|in|1}} across and {{cvt|20|mm|in|1}} thick. It has irregular lobes and moderately firm while alive, becoming more spongy once dead. The utricles form in large clusters and are {{cvt|2|to|6|mm|in|3}} long and coated in many hairs.

The species is similar to Codium lucasii, which adheres more tightly to rock surfaces.{{cite web|url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/efsa/algae_revealed/pdf/Codium_spongiosum.pdf|title=Codium spongiosum Harvey|access-date=1 September 2017|publisher=South Australian Herbarium}}

It is epilithic in the subtidal and intertidal zones. Mostly situated in calmer waters, from the low tide mark to several metres depth. It is often found in warmer waters but has a scattered distribution in colder waters.{{cite web|url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/efsa/Marine_Benthic_Flora_SA/Part_I/Codium_spongiosum.shtml|title=Codium spongiosum Harvey 1855c:565; 1858: pl. 55.|work=Electronic Flora of South Australia Species Fact Sheet|access-date=1 September 2017|publisher=Government of South Australia}}

The species was first formally described by the botanist William Henry Harvey in 1855 in Some Accounts of the Marine Botany of the Colony of Western Australia, published in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy.{{cite web|url=http://www.algaebase.org/search/species/detail/?species_id=rc7fd8a2114c07ca7&sk=0&from=results|title=Codium spongiosum Harvey|author=Guiry, M.D.|author2=Guiry, G.M.|name-list-style=amp|year=2017|work=AlgaeBase|publisher=National University of Ireland}} The type specimen was collected from King George Sound along the south coast of Western Australia.

In Western Australia, it is found along the coast in the Kimberley and as far south as the Recherche Archipelago. It is also found along the South Australian coasts on the Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, and Fleurieu Peninsula. It is common in all tropical and subtropical waters.