![]() ![]() ![]() Perhaps future expeditions will help us understand these and other hidden talents of sponges. But this is a key part of science: looking for one thing and finding something else altogether new. Why and how they do it is still a mystery. Sponges have no muscles or apparent method of mobility. Most of them had left tracks in the mud behind them, filled with protein crystals called spicules. The sponges were scuttling-very slowly-across the sea floor. They set up specialized photography to look at vent activity but were amazed to see something else. Scientists studying undersea vents in one of the least hospitable places on Earth, in the cold blackness a mile beneath Arctic ice, found thousands of sponges living in the warmer water near the thermal vents. But that changed when it was revealed that sponges could move. Sponges were thought to be unresponsive to outside stimuli and, well, very plantlike. Today there are 6,000 known species and new ones being identified regularly. Sponges evolved more than 500 million years ago, flourished through Earth’s great extinction events, and have endured ever since. But new accidental findings may show we’ve underestimated them. They’re also the least evolutionarily advanced creatures on the planet. Sponges may look like plants, but they’re animals-some of the longest-lived on Earth, with a few living more than 10,000 years. Or are sponges able to move faster sporadically? Credit: AWI OFOBS team, PS101 With paces of just millimeters per year, some tracks may have taken hundreds of years or more to create. But, each sponge can function as both a male and a female.Sponge-spicule trails are typically tan and may move uphill and change directions like this one. The flow carries particles of food, and oxygen too, into the sponge to be captured by its cells.Īnd like other animals, sponges produce sperm which can fertilize egg cells in another individual. Since they can't move or photosynthesize, sponges pump water through the hollow canals of their porous bodies, using microscopic beating hairs on special collar cells lining the canals. Sponges can't do this, although a few species host cyanobacteria that can. Plants feed by capturing solar energy in the process of photosynthesis. Their larvae move by swimming or crawling. But really, only adults are mostly stationary. It might be strange to think of a sponge as an animal, because they're anchored in place and don't move. Real sponges are simple aquatic animals. Their bodies are like balloons full of jelly. The "balloon" is made of layers of cells. Others cells inhabit the jelly and produce its skeleton. Cleaning and bath sponges were originally made from their flexible protein skeletons. Cleaning sponges today are typically made from cellulose or plastic. Not the sponges we use to clean our kitchens, those aren't even real sponges. Want to learn about an animal stranger than most science fiction aliens? Meet the sponge. But, each sponge can function as both a male and a female. Y: Umm, well, like other animals sponges produce sperm, which can fertilize egg cells in another individual. The flow carries particles of food, and oxygen too, into the sponge to be captured by its cells.ĭ: What about sex? If they are animals, there must be males and females. Y: Sponges pump water through the hollow canals of their porous bodies, using microscopic beating hairs on special collar cells lining the canals. Sponges can't do this, although a few species host cyanobacteria that can.ĭ: If they can neither move nor photosynthesize, then how do they eat? That seems more like a plant than an animal to me. Others cells inhabit the jelly and produce its skeleton.ĭ: But, sponges are anchored in place and don't move. The "balloon" is made of layers of cells. Their bodies are like balloons full of jelly. Y: Oh, Don, those usually aren't even real sponges. Y: Hey Don, how would you like to hear about an animal stranger than most science fiction aliens?ĭ: Sponges? You must be kidding.
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