New types of sea sponges discovered that can walk

Modern sponges and their fossilized ancestors led a largely immobile lifestyle. They could move

only with the help of spores-gemmules and germ cells.

However, in their new work, oceanologists found three types of modern sponges at once, which can move long enough distances in adulthood.

More than half of the sponges were located insidebizarre ground tapes that were covered with hairy structures. Having studied their structure, biologists came to the conclusion that these stripes were traces of the movement of sponges along the surface of the Langset Ridge.

We found stripes at the bottom of the ocean from manyintertwined hairs, the lower part of which was connected to separate sponges. Presumably, these tracks arose as a result of the movement of these invertebrate creatures.

Research text

We are talking about three types of sponges - Geodia parva, Geodia hentscheli and Stelletta haphidiophora. It is not yet known how exactly they move, since the sponges lack muscles.

Researchers hope that further expeditions to this Arctic region will help answer this question.

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