Scientists might not know about all of them because many places that sponges inhabit are really difficult to get to, he adds. Evolutionarily speaking, sponges “are more than 600 million years old, and they inhabit all parts of our globe,” he says. The study highlights just how opportunistic sponges are, says Jasper de Goeij, a deep-sea ecologist at the University of Amsterdam not involved with this work.

Chesapeake Bay: Nature of the Estuary, A Field Guide by Christopher P.In the cold, dark depths of the Arctic Ocean, a feast of the dead is under way.Ī vast community of sponges, the densest group of these animals found in the Arctic, is consuming the remains of an ancient ecosystem to survive, researchers report February 8 in Nature Communications.Life in the Chesapeake Bay by Alice Jane Lippson and Robert L.Sponges provide important habitat for shrimp, worms, crabs and other small Bay creatures.Red beard sponges cannot survive if taken out of water.Red beard sponges are the most common sponge in the Chesapeake Bay.

Young sponges are usually thin and flat, rather than thick and branching. Free-swimming larvae eventually settle to the bottom, where they find a hard surface to attach themselves to. During sexual reproduction, eggs are fertilized within the sponge. The sponge fragments bud into new sponges. Asexual reproduction takes place when branches are damaged or broken off. These sponges reproduce both sexually and asexually. Unused water and waste products exit through another opening at the top of the sponge. Beating, hair-like cilia capture food particles in the water. Red beard sponges are filter feeders that feed by drawing water through their pores into their chambers.

How do young sponges move