Amphimedon compressa, the erect rope sponge, red tree sponge, red tubular sponge, or red sponge is a demosponge found in southern Florida, the Caribbean Sea, and the Bahamas. It can be deep red, orange, brown, or black.

Red beard sponges are filter feeders that feed by drawing water through their pores into their chambers. Beating, hair-like cilia capture food particles in the water and unused water and waste products exit through another opening at the top of the sponge.

They have radial symmetry, meaning they have no front or hind end which is adaptive to only two types of habitats…

Clathria prolifera, commonly known as red beard sponge, is a species of sea sponge in the family Microcionidae. It is native to shallow water habitats in the western Atlantic Ocean from Prince Edward Island southwards to Florida and Mexico, and possibly Brazil.

Fire sponges are found in shallow tropical waters with a relatively slow but steady water flow. They usually live at depths between 0.5-2 m. Tedania ignis are found in two general habitats: amongst red mangrove roots and in coral reefs. When in association with a reef habitat T.

Sponges are filter feeders and hosts for symbiotic algae (a relatively uncommon relationship in freshwater taxa). They can filter substantial numbers of bacteria and suspended algae from the water, making them serious competitors with some protozoa, zooplankton, and a few other multicellular taxa.

These percentages are also comparable to those found on tropical reefs. Steindler et al. [27] found an average of 71.5% of sponge species in the Caribbean were photosynthetic, while Erwin and Thacker [41] report that over 30% of sponge species, also in the Caribbean, were photosynthetic.

Sponges reproduce by both asexual and sexual means. Sponges that reproduce asexually produce buds or, more often, gemmules, which are packets of several cells of various types inside a protective covering. Fresh water sponges of the Spongillidae often produce gemmules prior to winter.

Sponges are among the most primitive of all animals. They are immobile, and live by filtering detritus from the water. They have no brains or, for that matter, any neurons, organs or even tissues.

Sea sponges can only survive in saltwater, so if you put them in freshwater, they will quickly die. They are also very sensitive to air and do not like to be taken out of the water because their pores get filled with air. If too many of their pores are filled with air, they will die.

There is no heart, there are no veins or arteries, and sponges do not have blood. However, they accomplish gas exchange and nutrient consumption through the movement of water. Water is pulled into the sponge via internal choanocyte cells, which take in water through the sponge’s outer pores.

Sponge Myth: Cleaning Sponges Are Alive Sponges have a long history of being used as cleaning tool—even as far back as the Holy Roman Empire! While we do still use natural sponges harvested from the ocean, they are no longer alive by the time you receive them.

Life cycle Sponges in temperate regions live for at most a few years, but some tropical species and perhaps some deep-ocean ones may live for 200 years or more. Some calcified demosponges grow by only 0.2 mm (0.0079 in) per year and, if that rate is constant, specimens 1 m (3.3 ft) wide must be about 5,000 years old.

In 1997, Norris reached another milestone in his life: he was the first man ever in the western hemisphere to be awarded an 8th degree Black Belt Grand Master recognition in the Tae Kwon Do martial arts system.