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Sponge reefs are reefs produced by sea sponges. All modern sponge reefs are formed by hexactinellid sponges, which have an endoskeleton made of silica spicules and are often referred to as "glass sponges", while historically the non-spiculed, calcite-skeletoned archaeocyathid and stromatoporoid sponges were the primary reef-builders.
The marine protected area was established in February 2017 with the goal of conserving the biological diversity, structural habitat, and ecosystem function of four glass sponge reefs. These reefs were the first discovered living specimens and are the largest glass sponge reefs in the world. [1]
However, there are glass sponge reefs off the coast of British Columbia. The Canadian government designated 2140 km 2 of the Hecate strait and Queen Charlotte sound as a marine protected area. This area contains four glass sponge reefs. The new regulations prohibit bottom contact fishing within 200 meters of the sponge reefs. [20]
The Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area was designated by the Fisheries and Oceans Canada in February 2017. The MPA is located in the Northern Shelf bioregion of the Pacific Region, southeast of Haida Gwaii , North and South of the entrance to the Douglas Channel.
The cloud sponge is found in the northern Pacific Ocean. Its range includes Japan, Siberia, the Aleutian Islands and the west coast of North America from Alaska southwards to California and Mexico. [1] It is a reef-building species found in deep waters on the western Canadian shelf growing on sediment-free rocks.
Glass sponges such as Claviscopulia are found worldwide in both hard and soft substrates and in the deeper part of the sea ranging from around 200m to more than 6000m. In some cases, glass sponges live in shallower areas like the submarine caves in Mediterranean or off the coast of British Columbia.
The mineral-rich waters of the Salish Sea are an ideal habitat for the formation of glass sponge reefs. These reefs were believed to have gone extinct during or shortly after the Cretaceous period, until a large collection of existing reefs were discovered off the British Columbia Coast in 1987. [42]
The sponges are often found to house glass sponge shrimp, usually a breeding pair, who are typically unable to exit the sponge's lattice due to their size. Consequently, they live in and around these sponges, where the shrimp perform a mutualistic relationship with the sponge until they die. The shrimp live and mate in the shelter that the ...