genus of marine sponges of the class Calcarea (calcareous sponges), characterized by a fingerlike body shape known as the syconoid type of structure. In the syconoid sponges, each “finger,” known as a radial canal, is perforated by many tiny pores through which water passes into a single central cavity. The water exits through an oscule, or larger opening, at the tip. Water is driven through the sponge by the beating of many hairlike cilia lining the central cavity. Scypha species grow to only about 2 or 3 cm (about 1 inch) in length.