Sponges, in biological and ecological research topics, are basal metazoans (phylum Porifera) characterized by a porous body plan, an aquiferous canal system, and choanocyte-lined chambers that drive water flow for filter feeding, gas exchange, and waste removal. They possess a skeleton of spicules (siliceous or calcareous) and/or spongin fibers and exhibit high cellular plasticity with loosely organized tissues lacking true organs. Sponges play key roles in benthic ecosystems as major filter feeders, mediating biogeochemical cycles (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, silicon) and hosting diverse microbial symbionts that contribute to nutrient transformations, chemical defense, and the production of bioactive secondary metabolites.
While they didn't live in a pineapple under the Phosphoria Sea, it turns out a good chunk of the prehistoric Intermountain West was once blanketed in sea sponges.
Ecology
Nov 13, 2025
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In the world of phylogenetics, there's team sponge and team comb jelly. Which creature roots the animal tree of life—the simple sponge or the more complex comb jelly—has stirred fierce debate among phylogeneticists, researchers ...
Evolution
Nov 13, 2025
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The MARBLES team is excited to share a new breakthrough from the project! The study led by the University of Aberdeen and published in the journal Marine Drugs, has identified promising bioactive compounds produced by a Streptomyces ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 5, 2025
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New research investigating whether nitrogen fertilizer run-off affects marine sponges suggests these animals have a high tolerance to nitrogen, but some species may be better able to cope than others.
Plants & Animals
Oct 13, 2025
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A team of MIT geochemists has unearthed new evidence in very old rocks suggesting that some of the first animals on Earth were likely ancestors of the modern sea sponge.
Plants & Animals
Sep 29, 2025
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Many corals and sponges form skeletons that support and shape their bodies. Whereas biomineralization—the formation of these skeletons—has been intensively studied in corals, the main ecosystem engineers of today's hyperdiverse ...
Evolution
Sep 9, 2025
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Some dolphins in Australia have a special technique to flush fish from the seafloor. They hunt with a sponge on their beak, like a clown nose.
Plants & Animals
Jul 16, 2025
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More than 514 million years ago, long before dinosaurs roamed Earth, sponge-like creatures called archaeocyathids were already busy building some of the planet's earliest reefs—just north of Death Valley in present-day Nevada.
Evolution
Jun 12, 2025
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The Venus flower basket sponge, with its delicate glass-like lattice outer skeleton, has long intrigued researchers seeking to explain how this fragile-seeming creature's body can withstand the harsh conditions of the deep ...
General Physics
May 17, 2024
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A new technique for electrospinning sponges has allowed scientists from the University of Surrey to directly produce 3D scaffolds—on which skin grafts could be grown from the patient's own skin.
Bio & Medicine
Feb 23, 2024
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