Most sea sponges are simple, yet ancient, animals that live in coral reef ecosystems. They feed by passively filtering ocean water, taking in microscopic debris such as bacteria, plankton, and other ...

Researchers in Hawaii used structures that mimic coral reefs to study aquatic life — and they found four new species. The new species are all types of sponges, “grubby little” creatures that are often ...

Natural communities can undergo large temporal changes in abundance and species composition that may be difficult to detect without long-term ecological monitoring. Characterizing temporal variability ...

Sponges are conspicuous and abundant within the benthic fauna on Caribbean reefs. The ability of these organisms to efficiently capture carbon from particulate sources is well known and the importance ...

A new glass sponge species is so strange that has been given the name named Advhena magnifica, which means "magnificent alien ...

For the study, scuba divers collected small samples of the thin purple morphotype sponges 14 and 22 months after the two Category 5 hurricanes in St. Thomas. Named for its ropy-looking long branches, ...

Thirty miles west of Grays Harbor, University of Washington scientists have discovered large colonies of glass sponges thriving on the seafloor. The species of glass sponges capable of building reefs ...

Vast mounds made of the skeletons of glass sponges have been discovered 600 metres down on the seabed of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary off California. The mounds are unlike anything ...