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Kalymnos was the main centre of sponge production in the Aegean, and sponge diving is still a traditional albeit less common occupation of the Greeks on the island, with related exhibitions, along with other local folklore, and three museums about the occupation. 1897 schematic of commercial sponge diving
Flow tank experiments suggest that archaeocyathan morphology allowed them to exploit flow gradients, either by passively pumping water through the skeleton, or, as in present-day, extant sponges, by drawing water through the pores, removing nutrients, and expelling spent water and wastes through the pores into the central space.
The fruit bodies reach dimensions of 10 cm (3.9 in) wide by 7 cm (2.8 in) tall. Like a sponge, they will resume their original shape if water is squeezed out. The spores, produced on the surfaces of the hollows of the sponge, are almond-shaped with rough surfaces, and measure 10‑12.5 μm by 6‑7 μm.
All freshwater and most shallow-water marine sponges have leuconid bodies. The networks of water passages in glass sponges are similar to the leuconid structure. [18] In all three types of structure, the cross-section area of the choanocyte-lined regions is much greater than that of the intake and outlet channels.
Depending on the body plan of the sponge (which can be asconoid, syconoid, or leuconoid), the spongocoel could be a simple interior space of the sponge or a complexly branched inner structure. Regardless of body plan or class, the spongocoel is lined with choanocytes, which have flagella that push water through the spongocoel, creating a current.
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.
“Sponges may sneeze in a way analogous to human sneezing,” the researchers said.
Sponges are hermaphrodites, producing both egg and sperm. Sperm is released from one sponge and brought in through the ostia of another sponge. Once the sperm reaches the body cavity it is fertilized and develops into a free-swimming larvae. The free-swimming larvae are released out the osculum and will eventually settle and attach elsewhere. [6]