Boring+Sponge

**Phyla**: Porifera

**Class**: Demospongiae

**Scientific name**: Clion vastifica

**Location**: Southern New England

**Size**: **Length**: 30 cm

**Habitat**: Boring sponges grow on oyster beds and other mollusk colonies throughout the Bay.

**Living requirements**: They draw water in through tiny pores and filter out plankton, organic material and other microscopic particles.

**Life cycle**: They then grow to massive proportions and colonize on rocks or the shells of the dead mollusks.

**Male and Female differences**: Sexually and asexually, A sponge produces clusters of cells in autumn that overwinter and develop into new sponges in spring. The fertilized eggs are released into the water, where they develop into larvae.

**Interesting Facts**: It is called the "boring sponge" because it bores holes into an oyster's shell. This weakens the shell and can sometimes kill the oyster. If you find an empty oyster shell covered with pockmarks, it was once infested by a boring sponge.

**Human impact**: Due to humans polluting the ocean more and more sponges are dying.

Zookeeper: Sarah Reimer Content recieved from: [] [] [] Images recieved from: [] [] []