[2] The vanes give C. lyra its harp-like structure and these are covered in velcro-like hooks and spines, which it uses to snare prey that drift past it in currents.

Typical sponges are suspension feeders, filtering bacteria and microscopic organisms from the surrounding water through their aquiferous system.

C. lyra and other carnivorous sponges, however, capture much larger prey, like copepods and other crustaceans, with the velcro-like hooks on external body surfaces.

[8] Chondrocladia lyra has been found in the northeast Pacific Ocean, off the coast of northern California, at the Escanaba Ridge and the Monterey Canyon.

They have been seen rooted on the sides of slopes and bottom of the Monterey Canyon, where their prey is funneled into the narrow crevasses the sponges inhabit.