| Oscarellidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Oscarella lobularis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Porifera |
| Class: | Homoscleromorpha |
| Order: | Homosclerophorida |
| Family: | Oscarellidae Lendenfeld, 1887 [1] |
| Genera | |
see text | |
| Oscarellidae | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Oscarella lobularis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Porifera |
| Class: | Homoscleromorpha |
| Order: | Homosclerophorida |
| Family: | Oscarellidae Lendenfeld, 1887 [1] |
| Genera | |
see text | |
Demosponges are 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 sponges with a soft body that covers a hard, often massive skeleton made of calcium carbonate, either aragonite or calcite. 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.
Polymastia is a genus of sea sponges 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.
Halichondria is a genus of sea sponges belonging to the family Halichondriidae. These are massive, amorphous sponges with clearly separated inner and outer skeletons consisting of bundles of spicules arranged in a seemingly random pattern.
Spongia is a genus of marine sponges in the family Spongiidae, originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1759, containing more than 60 species. Some species, including Spongia officinalis, are used as cleaning tools, but have mostly been replaced in that use by synthetic or plant material.
Homosclerophorida is an order of marine sponges. It is the only order in the monotypic class Homoscleromorpha. The order is composed of two families: Plakinidae and Oscarellidae.
Plakinidae is a family of marine sponges. It is composed of seven genera:
Clathrina multiformis is a species of calcareous sponge from Russia.
Clathria is a large genus of demosponges in the family Microcionidae.
Haliclona is a genus of demosponges in the family Chalinidae.
Ircinia is a genus of sea sponges in the family Irciniidae.
Darwinellidae is a family of sponges in the order Dendroceratida.
Rhabdastrella is a genus of marine sponges belonging to the family of Ancorinidae.
Ancorinidae is a family of marine sponges belonging to the order of Tetractinellida.
Chondrilla is a genus of sea sponges belonging to the family Chondrillidae.
Oscarella carmela, commonly known as the slime sponge, is a species of sponge in the order Homosclerophorida that was first described in 2004 by G. Muricy and J.S. Pearse. It is believed to be native to intertidal waters in the north east temperate Pacific Ocean and was first found in seawater aquaria in that region. It is used as a model organism in evolutionary biology.
Aplysina is a genus of sea sponges in the order Verongiida. It was first authenticated and described by Nardo in 1834.
Mycale is a genus of demosponge with 240 recognised species in 11 subgenera. It has been a large genus with multiple subdivisions since it was first described in 1867.
Nicole Boury-Esnault is a retired French researcher of marine sponges, formerly at Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, Aix-Marseille University.
Jean Vacelet is a French marine biologist who specialises in the underwater fauna of the Mediterranean. After earning his licence at the Faculté des Sciences de Marseille and learning to dive in 1954, he specialised in the study of sponges at the Marine station of Endoume, and there he has stayed faithful to both sponges and place for more than half a century. His research has included all aspects of sponges: taxonomy, habitat, biology, anatomy, their bacterial associations, and their place in the evolution of multi-celled animals. He has studied them not only in the Mediterranean but in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Exploration of underwater grottoes, together with Jacques Laborel and Jo Hamelin, revealed the existence of sponges dating from very ancient geological periods and the unexpected existence of carnivorous sponges, and surprisingly, the grottoes in some ways mimicked life at much greater depths.