This genus of sponges became important through the discovery of cell division limiting properties of the extract Halichondrin B, which inhibits cell mitosis.
Linnaeus in 1767, Esper in 1794 and Lamarck in 1814 also used the name but it was not until Johnston described the spicules as well as the sponge which he named Halichondria ficus in 1842 that it became clear what sponge was being described.