Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera, are a basal Metazoa (animal) clade as a sister of the Diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them, consisting of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. The branch of zoology that studies sponges is known as spongiology.
Demospongiae is the most diverse class in the phylum Porifera. They include 76.2% of all species of sponges with nearly 8,800 species worldwide. They are predominantly leuconoid in structure. Their "skeletons" are made of spicules consisting of fibers of the protein spongin, the mineral silica, or both. Where spicules of silica are present, they have a different shape from those in the otherwise similar glass sponges.
Ascute is a genus of Clathrinidae. It contains two species:
Polymastia is a genus of sponges (Porifera) containing about 30 species. These are small to large encrusting or dome-shaped sponges with a smooth surface having many teat-shaped projections (papillae). In areas of strong wave action, this genus does not grow the teat structures, but instead grows in a corrugated form.
Spongilla is a genus of freshwater sponges in the family Spongillidae found in lakes and slow streams. Sponges of the genus Spongilla attach themselves to rocks and logs and filter the water for various small aquatic organisms such as protozoans, bacteria, and other free-floating pond life. Unlike marine sponges, freshwater sponges are exposed to far more adverse and variable environmental conditions, so they have developed gemmules as a means of dormancy. When exposed to excessively cold or otherwise harsh situations, the sponges form these gemmules, which are highly resistant "buds" that can live dormant after the mother sponge has died. When conditions improve, the gemmules "germinate" and a new sponge is born.
Homoscleromorpha is a class of marine sponges composed of two families: Plakinidae and Oscarellidae.
Xestospongia testudinaria is a species of barrel sponge in the family Petrosiidae.
Leuconia is a genus of calcareous sponges in the family Baeriidae. It was described by English anatomist and zoologist Robert Edmond Grant in 1933.
Ascute asconoides is a marine species of calcareous sponge from Australia.
Pseudospongosorites suberitoides is a species of demosponge belonging to the family Suberitidae. It is currently considered the only species in the genus Pseudospongosorites. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and on the Atlantic coast of the United States as far north as North Carolina. This species is known by the common name Florida hermit crab sponge, so named because hermit crabs often use it as shelter.
John N.A. Hooper is an Australian marine biologist and writer on science. He is the current Head of Biodiversity & Geosciences Programs at the Queensland Museum. His research has included studying the possible medical benefits of marine sponges, including beta blockers for heart disease, and for compounds to combat illnesses like gastro-intestinal disease and cancer. In 2007 he was a member of the Discussion Panel On Marine Genetic Resources for the eighth annual United Nations Informal Consultative Process for Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS).
Spongia officinalis, better known as bath sponge, is a commercially used sponge. It is found throughout the Mediterranean Sea.
Myxillina is a suborder of poecilosclerid sponges.
Dictyoceratida is an order of sponges in the subclass Ceractinomorpha containing five families. Along with the Dendroceratida, it is one of the two orders of demosponges that make up the keratose or "horny" sponges, in which a mineral skeleton is minimal or absent and a skeleton of organic fibers containing spongin, a collagen-like material, is present instead.
Petrosina is the name of a suborder of marine haplosclerid sponges. It includes three families.
Clathrina pulcherrima is a species of calcareous sponges from Australia. It was described by Arthur Dendy in 1891.
Thorectidae is a family of poriferans in the order Dictyoceratida.
Agelasida is an order of demosponges in the subclass Heteroscleromorpha.
Spongillida is an order of demosponges in the subclass Heteroscleromorpha.
Anheteromeyenia is a genus of freshwater sponge. It has been recorded in the Nearctic, the Neotropics. This taxon was initially a subgenus of Heteromeyenia when K. Schöder circumscribed it in 1927, but W. M. de Laubenfels made it a genus in its own right in 1936.
