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November 28, 2021: Sponge

This curious little animal is a sponge! It belongs to the order Poecilosclerida and, unlike the filter-feeding sponges that passively capture prey items such as larvae or small crustaceans from the water column, these sponges are predatory. This one was seen during a 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas dive.

Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas. Download larger version (jpg, 649 KB).

This curious little animal is a sponge! It belongs to the order Poecilosclerida and, unlike the filter-feeding sponges that passively capture prey items such as larvae or small crustaceans from the water column, these sponges are predatory. This one was seen during a 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas dive.