New types of sea sponges discovered that can walk

Modern sponges and their fossilized ancestors were mostly sedentary. They could move around

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

However, in their new work, oceanographers have found three species of  modern sponges that canto travel 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.

At the bottom of the ocean, we found bands of many intertwined hairs, the lower part of which was connected to individual 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 exactly how they move, since sponges lack muscles. 

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

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