What is a Sponge?
UNIQUE IN THE KINGDOM
To Ancient Greeks the sea sponge was known as a ‘Zoofitan’ a unique category, meaning half plant/half animal.
It is not a coral (although frequently mistaken for it) and is not a plant. It has neither brain nor central nervous system.
Today many zoologists classify sea sponges in an Animal Sub-Kingdom, due to their hermaphroditic ability to reproduce.
PERMANENT RESIDENTS
Sea Sponges live on the ocean floor, attaching themselves permanently to a solid location under the water and they do not move around.
Because they can’t move around, sponges feed by filtering plankton and organic particles from the ocean currents through thousands of tiny pores on the surface of their bodies. Sponges also obtain oxygen and nourishment from the flowing water.
REPRODUCE WITH YOUR BUDDY
A sponge reproduces by buddying, where sperm is caught by nearby sponges and fertilization of the egg takes place internally. The resultant tiny larva is released and settles on the ocean floor where it develops and grows into a sponge.
Natural Sea Sponges possess remarkable powers of regeneration. They have the ability to re-grow lost parts and pieces broken off by water currents, and therefore can settle in another location and re-grow into a clone of the parent sponge. Therefore the currents of the ocean facilitate the natural ‘planting’ of new sponges.
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