In a study published July 11 in the journal Current Biology, they report on the explosion of a community of glass sponges-organisms with skeletons made of silica, a mineral component of glass-on the seafloor below where an enormous ice shelf used to be.

Researchers have found a 'boomtown' of sponges. But that thinking has changed, in part because of a startling discovery off the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Marine creatures called sponges, which live on the seafloor, have been known to go a decade without any measurable growth in the Antarctic. They were the first animals to reproduce sexually.Conventional wisdom holds that life in Antarctica moves at a glacial pace. Sponges also use their pumping to reproduce: they pump sperm and eggs into the water. We go on a wild ride inside the sponge through holes, tunnels and chambers. Cristina Diaz demonstrates how quickly sponges filter water to obtain food by injecting a colored dye just outside the sponge and watching how quickly the sponge pumps out the dye. Sponges are the only animals that if broken down to the level of their cells, they can reassemble themselves. Sponge cells carry out all the functions that organs carry out in higher animals and they communicate with each other, an ability all animal cells share. We see an animated view of the incredible variety of shapes of these spicules.

In addition, sponges have microscopic crystalline spicules that act as a skeleton. Coming in many sizes and shapes, sponge bodies are a loose assemblage of cells held together by a special protein called collagen which is present in all animals. The ancient sponge appeared about 2.5 billion years ago-the first animal. ** note: To enable closed captioning, please click on the small CC in the bottom right of the video controls. Gail Grabowsky Kaaialii, Marine Biologist.

Can sea sponges move