Page 19 - Caribbean Reef Life Demo

Sponges are actually animal colonies and are some of the most vibrant and diverse creatures on a reef. They feed by constantly ltering the nutrients out of seawater. All sponges are covered with tiny incurrent pores that suck water in and larger excurrent openings that send it back out. In this way they can lter up to 20,000 times their own volume of seawater every day. Sponges are so successful that they have been on Earth for well over 500 million years. Many have developed chemical defenses from predation that are currently being studied to treat diseases in humans. They are found in all environments, from the shallowest lagoons to the deepest walls.
Sponges are beautiful animals in their own right, but they are also host to countless other creatures that use the walls of the sponge, and even the larger openings, as shelter. Sponges can be used by ambush predators as places to hunt from, or by nocturnal species taking refuge until nightfall.
42