Fish of the Day 46 - I got that spongebob in me

Today's fish of the day is the sea sponge! (Wheres the pineapple...)

"Im ready! Im ready! Im ready! Im ready!"

Sea sponge facts:

- Aplysina Fistualis (the sea sponge in the photo) is the species Spongebob, the titual character of Spongebob Squarepants, is based off of! Why was he based on a sea sponge in particular? Steven Hillenburg, creator of the show, wanted to base his character on the wackiest undersea creature he could think of. A sea sponge certainly is a good choice in that catagory!

- Sea sponges are really ancient. Scientists have found evidence of sea sponges existing around 600 million years ago... for reference, the oldest dinosaur seems to have lived only 243 million years ago. That's still an incomprehendable amount of time... but 600 million is even MORE incomprehenable!!

- Most sea sponges feed on small, microscopic creatures or pieces of biological debris, because they filter feed. That's why they have so many pores! However, one specific family of deepsea dwelling sponges, the family "Cladorhizidae", eat small crustaceans. Im not exactly sure which specific crustaceans, but if i had to guess, copepods or even small krill come to mind! 

- Sponges in general are similar to corals in many ways, however one big difference is that coral needs saltwater to grow. Sponges can be found in saltwater AND freshwater! And, dare I say... out of water....... okay anyway

- Sponges are among the unique group of animals that can reproduce both sexually and asexually!

Do you got that sea sponge in you? I certainly do. The sponge in me is the wonderous yellow sponge... Aplysina Fistualis!!!!!!!!!!!!