Silica deposition is a fundamental process in sponges. Most sponges in the Classes
Demospongiae and Hexactinellida secrete siliceous elements, which can subsequently …

Sponges have become the focus of studies on molecular evolution and the evolution of
animal body plans due to their ancient branching point in the metazoan lineage. Whereas …

A large number of suspension-feeding aquatic animals (eg bivalves, polychaetes, ascidians,
bryozoans, crustaceans, sponges, echinoderms, cnidarians) have specialized in grazing on …

Sponges are one of the major invertebrate groups inhabiting hard-bottom communities
worldwide. In this study, we measured in situ rates of grazing on DOC (dissolved organic …

Sponges are suspension feeders that use flagellated collar-cells (choanocytes) to actively
filter a volume of water equivalent to many times their body volume each hour. Flow through …

Sponges play an important ecological function in many benthic habitats. They filter large
volumes of water, retain suspended particles with high efficiency, and process dissolved …

A hallmark of animals is the coordination of whole-body movement. Neurons and muscles
are central to this, yet coordinated movements also exist in sponges that lack these cell …

The modern biosphere owes its idiosyncratic expression to the activities of oxygen
metabolizing organisms, especially animals and eukaryotes (Butterfield, 2011). And with a …

Grazing on phytoplankton in marine macro-invertebrates implies feeding on highly dilute
suspensions of food particles, too small to be sensed and seized individually. Suspension …

The similarities between the choanoflagellates and the choanocytes of sponges have been
discussed for more than a century yet few studies allow a direct comparison of the two. We …