![]() Learn more about what makes sponges so interesting, below. These creatures are incredibly odd and unique animals. Inside, they have microscopic hairs, or flagella, which wiggle to push the water through their bodies. All sponges have tiny pores where they intake water. Some have many branches or odd shapes, while others have a simple cylindrical shape. An immensely wide variety of shapes and sizes exist. It’s also unclear exactly what the mucus is or how it’s moving backward through pores.These odd creatures vary drastically in appearance. But biologists need to dig deeper to figure out how widespread the mechanism is. archeri that uses the counterflow technique, Leys says. The team also noted a similar behavior in an Indo-Pacific sponge ( Chelonaplysilla sp). Most sponges appear to sneeze, so it’s likely not just A. “They let the animals show for themselves what was happening.” “There’s so much to be said for a study that really spends time and watches,” Kahn says. Scientists view sponges primarily as habitat builders, but the mucus buffet shows they also perform an important function as food providers, says Amanda Kahn, a marine biologist at Moss Landing Marine Labs in California who was not involved with this work. Other sea critters feast on these ocean boogers, like brittle stars and small crustaceans. In real time, this sponge takes between 20 and 50 minutes to complete a sneeze. As the time-lapse video zooms in closer, it’s possible to see tiny specks of debris floating out of these pores and traveling along a “mucus highway” where they collect into stringy clumps of goo floating above the surface of the sponge. The Caribbean tube sponge ( Aplysina archeri) uses contractions - called “sneezes” - to help eject mucus from its pores, or ostia. ![]()
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