Like other demosponges,
C. orientalis is a
filter feeder. Water is drawn in through fine pores, the nutritious particles are filtered out, and the water exits the sponge through the
oscula. In addition, this sponge is able to extract nutrition from dissolved sugars in the water. It is a
hermaphrodite; sperm are liberated into the
water column and drawn into another individual via the water current, fertilisation being internal. The embryos are brooded within the sponge at first before being liberated through the oscula as
parenchymella larva. These are
planktonic, and when sufficiently developed, settle on a suitable substrate and undergo
metamorphosis into juvenile sponges. This sponge is a bioeroder. On suitable calcareous substrates such as coralline rock, massive corals and mollusc shells, pieces of solid material are chipped away using chemicals produced by "etching cells" and the sponge tunnels into the material. ==References==