What is a natural sponge?
Professional sponge products manufacturers have produced various sponges with different functions through understanding the characteristics of various natural sponges. Now Xiao Bian joins us to see what natural sponges are and what their characteristics are?
Sponge
Sponge is the simplest multicellular animal in the world. It is simple because it has no head, no tail, no trunk and limbs, and no nerves and organs. Although a sponge belongs to an animal, it cannot walk on its own. It can only attach to the reef at the bottom of the sea and get food from the sea water flowing around it. Before the 18th century, the sea surface had been treated as a plant. Later, thanks to the invention of the microscope and the progress in animal embryology, people were able to recognize the true face of sponges and finally determined their true attributes. There are many kinds of biological sponges, ranging from 10000 to 15000.
Except for a few species that like fresh water, the vast majority of sponges have always lived on the sea floor. Sponges can be found everywhere from shallow sea to 8000 meters deep sea. Due to different environments, varied conditions, different types of substrates attached, and different strength of water flow, sponges have formed colorful forms.
Most sponges live on the bottom of hard rock. In the water area with strong current, the height of sponges is generally less than 2.5 cm, and the surface of sponges forms many streamline lines. This evolution can avoid being broken by waves and currents.
Some sponges like to live in caves. They drill holes in the shells of abalone and oyster, and then live on their shells. Sponges vary in size, ranging from a few grams in size to 45 kilograms in size. Sponges are also colorful.
Their color is mainly due to the symbiosis of different kinds of seaweed in their bodies, which makes them present different colors. The tubular sponge looks like an upright chimney, so it is also called chimney sponge. Tubular sponges have many small holes in their bodies. The water continuously flows through the pores, and the nutrients in the pores are absorbed by the tubular sponges.
At the same time, the waste generated by the tubular sponge will also flow away with the sea water. The sea water flows into the body of the sponge from the pores that cover the whole body of the sponge. Each hole leads to a small room, called a filter chamber. All filter chambers lead to a cavity like a bottle, which is called the cavity before the hole. The upper end of the chamber is a large water outlet. The pores of sponges, as the channels for oxygen to enter, not only play a role in respiration, but also can absorb nutrients in water, excrete waste, and discharge sperm and eggs to complete the reproductive function.
