C. lyra is named the harp sponge because its basic structure resembles a harp or lyre. It is a sessile organism which anchors itself to the soft seafloor using a rhizoid, a root-like structure that embeds into the sea floor. From the top of the rhizoid, 1 to 6 horizontal, equidistant stolons with vertical branches form the 'vanes' of the sponge (this is evident in all of Chondrocladia). Depending on the number, the vanes display pentaradiate, tetra radiate, or biradiate symmetries. 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. Of the specimens found, the largest recorded is nearly 60 centimeters in length..