Sponges: Porifera - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, No Common Name (soleneiscus Radovani): Species Accounts, Bird's Nest Sponge (pheronema Carpenteri): Species Accounts - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET, SPONGES AND PEOPLE, CONSERVATI
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Sponges live all over the world.
Most sponges live in the sea, but a few species live in freshwater. Many sponges live on reefs. Most sponges need a firm surface on which to attach, such as rocks or the skeletons of dead sponges and coral. Other sponges live on sand or mud at the bottom of the deep sea. Freshwater sponges live in lakes and streams.
Sponges eat tiny particles such as bacterial plankton that they filter from the water that flows through them. A few sponges, however, are carnivorous (kar-NIH-vuh-rus), or meat eating. They engulf and digest small crustaceans (krus-TAY-shuns), or water-dwelling animals that have jointed legs and a hard shell but no backbone.
Some sponges produce compounds that can be used to make drugs for fighting diseases caused by viruses and bacteria. Other sponges are harvested and sold as bath sponges.
Sponges are not threatened or endangered.
Additional Topics
Sponges are clumps of cells arranged around masses of tubes. The surface is covered with small holes. The movement of whiplike cells in the center of the sponge draws water through the holes and into the sponge. A pumping action moves the water through the sponge and out through a large hole at the end of each tube. The body of many sponges is supported by tiny rods or star-shaped structures calle…
Most sponges attach themselves to the material on which they live. Some can penetrate deep inside rocks, coral, and shells. The main activity of sponges is pumping water through themselves to get food and oxygen, eliminate waste, and, for some sponges, process enough sand to make spicules. Sponges can control the amount of flow through their bodies by narrowing or partly closing off their intake a…
Physical characteristics: Sponges of the species Soleneiscus radovani (abbreviated as S. radovani) are bushy looking and bright yellow. They have single, delicate tubes branching from a large tube in the center of the sponge. The outer tubes are about one-sixteenth of an inch (2 millimeters) in diameter. The entire sponge is less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) in diameter. S. radovani sponges are …
Physical characteristics: The shape of bird's nest sponges ranges from tall and narrow, like a barrel, to short and wide, like a cake. These sponges grow to a height of about 10 inches (25 centimeters) and a width of about 8 inches (20 centimeters). The thick, hollow body tapers to a single sharp-edged upper opening. Short thin, hairlike silica spicules surround the opening and stick out of…
Physical characteristics: Freshwater sponges are crustlike, branched, or clumped. The texture is fragile and soft, and the color is whitish or green. Freshwater sponges have irregularly scattered and barely visible water-exit holes. The surface is uneven and roughened by spicules. Geographic range: Freshwater sponges live in North America, Europe, and Asia. Habitat: Freshwater sponges live in stan…
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