Kingdom : Animalia Class : Demospongiae Scientific Name : Demospongiae Size : 1cm - 3m (0.4in - 118in) Life Span : 15 - 30 years Colour : Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange, Brown Skin Type : Smooth Special Features : Brightly coloured and non-moving lifestyle
- Sponges are extremely slow moving animals found in the sea floors all across the world.
- Some of the sponge species attach themselves to objects on the sea floor and do not move all their lives.
- The sponge species that do move, move around 1mm a day!
- They are believed to have evolved around 500 million years ago.
- There are more than 5,000 species of sponge in the world.
- Most of them inhabit the oceans and salt water, while around 200 species inhabit the freshwaters.
- They have a thin layer of cells that cover the jelly-like substance that they are made up of.
- Water can easily flow through the thousands of pores that their body has and that is how they get their nutrition.
- They are omnivores, feeding mainly on phytop lankton and bacteria.
- Some of the sponge species also feed on crustaceans and small fish on the reefs.
- They are found in various shapes like cups, fan, blobs, cones and tubes and sizes.
- Their numerous predators are fish, crustaceans, sea turtles and echinoderms.
- They are hermaphrodites, having both male and female reproductive organs.
- Sometimes the sponges fertilize internally and sometimes externally.
- The sponge larvae are capable of moving through water.
- As they grow, they settle down on the sea floor and move very less.