Sponges (phylum Porifera) are a diverse taxon of benthic aquatic animals of great
ecological, commercial, and biopharmaceutical importance. They are arguably the earliest …

The biosynthesis, chemistry, structural features and functionality of spongin as a
halogenated scleroprotein of keratosan demosponges are still paradigms. This review has …

Background Demospongiae is the largest sponge class including 81% of all living sponges
with nearly 7,000 species worldwide. Systema Porifera (2002) was the result of a large …

The most diverse and species-rich class of the phylum Porifera is Demospongiae. In recent
years, the systematics of this clade, which contains more than 7000 species, has developed …

Background Phylum Porifera includes∼ 8,500 valid species distributed world-wide in
aquatic ecosystems ranging from ephemeral fresh-water bodies to coastal environments …

Background Patterns of biodiversity in the subterranean realm are typically different from
those encountered on the Earth's surface. The Dinaric karst of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia …

Marine sponges are the most prolific marine sources for discovery of novel bioactive
compounds. Sponge secondary metabolites are sought-after for their potential in …

Sponge classification has long been based mainly on morphocladistic analyses but is now
being greatly challenged by more than 12 years of accumulated analyses of molecular data …

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the East Pacific is a vast region targeted for deep-sea
mineral exploration, for which there are almost no published taxonomic data. Here we …

Demosponges of the genus Halichondria Fleming (1828) are common in coastal marine
ecosystems worldwide and have been well-studied over the last decades. As ecologically …