Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera, are a basal 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.
The Venus' flower basket is a glass sponge in the phylum Porifera. It is a marine sponge found in the deep waters of the Pacific ocean. As other glass sponges, they build their skeletons out of silica, which is of great interest in materials science as their optical and mechanical properties are in some ways superior to man-made materials. Like other sponges, they feed by filtering sea water to capture plankton.
The osculum is an excretory structure in the living sponge, a large opening to the outside through which the current of water exits after passing through the spongocoel. Wastes diffuse into the water and the water is pumped through the osculum carrying away with it the sponge's wastes. Sponges pump large volumes of water: typically a volume of water equal to the sponge's body size is pumped every five seconds. The size of the osculum is regulated by contractile myocytes. Its size, in turn, is one of the factors which determines the amount of water flowing through the sponge. It can be closed completely in response to excess silt in the water.
Leucosolenia is a genus of calcareous sponges belonging to the family Leucosoleniidae. Species of this genus usually appear as groups of curved vases, up to 2 cm long, each ending in an osculum. The overall shape is sometimes likened to a tiny bunch of bananas. They are most often observed in tide pools, clustered around the base of seaweeds or on rocks, and occur in a variety of colours, usually rather pale. Its canal system is of asconoid type. The colony consists of few simple vase-like, cylindrical individuals each terminating in an osculum and united at their bases by irregular horizontal tubes. Leucosolenia reproduces both asexually and sexually. asexual reproduction by budding and sexual reproduction takes place by formation of gametes, i.e., ova and sperms. Lecosolenia is hermaphrodite, because both the gametes are formed in the body of same individual. Sponges are mostly asymmetrical, but Leucosolenia is symmetrical.
The giant barrel sponge is the largest species of sponge found growing on Caribbean coral reefs. It is common at depths greater than 10 metres (33 ft) down to 120 metres (390 ft) and can reach a diameter of 1.8 metres. It is typically brownish-red to brownish-gray in color, with a hard or stony texture. The giant barrel sponge has been called the "redwood of the reef" because of its size and estimated lifespan of hundreds to a thousand or more years. It is perhaps the best-studied species of sponge in the sea; a population on Conch Reef, in the Florida Keys, has been monitored and studied since 1997.
The cloud sponge(Aphrocallistes vastus) is a species of sea sponge in the class Hexactinellida. It is a deep-water reef-forming animal. The species was first described by F.E. Schulze in 1886.
Arturia canariensis, commonly known as the yellow calcareous sponge, is a species of sponge in the family Clathrinidae. It is found in shallow seas in the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, the Adriatic Sea and the Caribbean Sea. The specific epiphet "canariensis" was given to this species because it was first described from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.
Clathrina clathrus is a species of calcareous sponge belonging to the family Clathrinidae.
Clathrina coriacea is a species of calcareous sponge belonging to the class Calcarea and family Clathrinidae. Species in the genus Clathrina are composed of calcium carbonate tube-like skeletons containing spicules. The sponge can be located in shallow waters widely distributed along North Atlantic coasts, as well as on other coasts.
Clathrina lacunosa is a species of calcareous sponge from the British Isles. The species name means "having holes" and refers to the perforations found in the sides of the sponge. It is usually found on vertical solid surfaces at depths down to 220 m. It is distributed in the north-eastern Atlantic from the Arctic to the Mediterranean. It is a fairly common sponge but is often overlooked due to its small size.
Sycon ciliatum is a species of calcareous sponge belonging to the family Sycettidaephylum.
Tectitethya crypta is a species of demosponge belonging to the family Tethyidae. Its classified family is characterized by fourteen different known genera, one of them being Tectitethya. It is a massive, shallow-water sponge found in the Caribbean Sea. This sponge was first discovered by Werner Bergmann in 1945 and later classified by de Laubenfels in 1949. It is located in reef areas situated on softer substrates such as sand or mud. Oftentimes, it is covered in sand and algae. This results in an appearance that is cream colored/ gray colored; however, when the animal is washed free of its sediment coverings, its body plan appears more green and gray. It's characterized with ostia peaking out of its body cavity, with the ability to abruptly open or close, changing its desired water flow rate through its mesohyl.
Iotrochota birotulata, commonly known as the green finger sponge, is a species of sea sponge in the family Iotrochotidae. It is found in shallow waters in the Caribbean Sea.
Aplysina insularis, commonly known as the yellow-green candle sponge or yellow candle sponge, is a species of sea sponge found on reefs in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
Peronidella is an extinct genus of Calcareous sponges found in marine sedimentary rocks dated between the Devonian and the Cretaceous periods.
Haliclona cearulea is a species of marine sponge in the family Chalinidae. It is an encrusting tubular sponge that grows anchored on rocky surfaces of coral reefs.
The orange pipe sponge, sometimes referred to as the orange pipe calcerous sponge or Leucosolenia botryoides, is a soft, white sponge with a tubular branching structure. The name is derived from the Greek word, "botrys", which means "cluster of grapes", relating to the branched structure of the sponge. It was originally found and named Spongia botryoides and given the common name "grape sponge" by researchers John Ellis and Daniel Charles Solander in 1786 before it was discovered to be a part of the genus Leucosolenia and changed to the orange pipe sponge. In Ellis and Solander's discovery, they described the sponge as "tender and branched as in bunches" where the "bunches are hollow." It is considered an asconoid sponge because it has no definitive shape.
Polymastia boletiformis is a species of sponge belonging to the family Polymastiidae. It is found in the Arctic Ocean and on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Polymastia penicillus is a species of sponge belonging to the family Polymastiidae. It is found in shallow water in the northeastern and the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, growing on rocks in areas of high sedimentation.
