English

A Venus' flower basket (Euplectella aspergillum), a variety of glass sponge

Noun

glass sponge ‎(plural glass sponges)

1. Any species of the class Hexactinellida of sponges, which have a skeleton made of four- and/or six-pointed siliceous spicules.
   • 1996, Carroll Lane Fenton, Pat Vickers Rich, Mildred Adams Fenton, Thomas H. V. Rich, The Fossil Book: A Record of Prehistoric Life, Revised Edition 1989, New Corrections 1996, page 114,

     Glass sponges are rare in the Ordovician and Silurian but are preserved in enormous numbers in Late Devonian formations of western New York.

   • 2007, S. P. Leys, G. O. Mackie, H. M. Reiswig, The Biology of Glass Sponges, D. W. Sims (editor), Advances in Marine Biology, Volume 52, page 85,

     Glass sponges are found in deep water (greater than 500 m) in all oceans of the world, but only inhabit shallower waters (up to 20 m) in four known locations: Antarctica, southern New Zealand, submarine caves in the Mediterranean and coastal waters of the north Pacific.

   • 2016, Samantha M. Gromek, Ashley M. West, Marcy J. Balunas, Chapter 12: Off the Beaten Path: Natural Products from Extreme Environments, Bill J. Baker (editor), Marine Biomedicine: From Beach to Bedside, page 344,

     Within the phylum Porifera is the class Hexactinellida, commonly known as glass sponges, which, until recently, remained largely unstudied due to past interests in another class, Demospongiae.^[25]Glass sponges are typically found in marine environments at depths ranging from 200 to 6000 m, but have also been found to live at shallower depths.

Synonyms

• (any species of Hexactinellida): hexactinellid, hexactinellid sponge

See also

• demosponge
• Demospongiae