[1] The cloud sponge takes the form of a large cup with an irregularly folded wall about 5 millimetres (0.20 in) thick.

Its range includes Japan, Siberia, the Aleutian Islands and the west coast of North America from Alaska southwards to California and Mexico.

[1] It is a reef-building species found in deep waters on the western Canadian shelf growing on sediment-free rocks.

Its body is primarily made of biogenic silica (>90%)[5] which is of no nutritional value yet dorid nudibranchs (Diaulula lentiginosa and Doris odhneri) have been shown to engorge themselves with cloud sponge.

Its growth rate is slow with juveniles growing into moderate sized individuals in ten or twenty years.