When you hear the word sponge, do you think of a squishy object for scrubbing a car or perhaps for washing your face? Did you know that that squishy object may have been alive at one time? Although most sponges commonly used around the house are man-made, a true bath sponge was once a mass of cells and fibers living on the bottom of the ocean.
Sponges live in warm or cold, shallow or deep water. Most sponges are gathered in warm tropical water at a depth of a few feet to 200 feet. The tissues of this sponges are allowed to rot in the sun. Then the residue is washed out and only the soft, porous skeleton is left. The skeleton is made of a tough, flexible protein called spongin.
A living sponge.
Sponges belong to the invertebrate phylum Porifera, which consists entirely of sponges. About 5,000 species of sponges in many colors, shapes, and sizes decorate the ocean floor. Sponges vary in color from gray to bright shades of red, yellow, and purple.
A red sponge.
All sponges are aquatic animals, and most live in a marine (ocean) environment. Sponges do not swim freely as do fish but attach themselves to rocks and other objects on the ocean floor. Because sponges are unable to move about freely, biologists describe them as sessile, or stationary animals.
A green sponge.
Last but not least, Spongebob.
That's it for my Bee Wise post this week. If you want to learn more about Bee Wise, visit The Learning Center.
