Bread+Crumb+Sponge


 * Common Name: ** Bread-Crumb Sponge


 * Phylum: **Porifera


 * Scientific Name: ** // Halichondria panicea //
 * Class: ** Demospongiae


 * Location: ** They are found on rocky overhangs where they form a colourful cover on the undersides. Another place to find them is on kelps, thrown ashore after a storm; Temperate coastal waters of northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.


 * Size: ** Width To more than 12 in (30 cm)


 * Habitat: ** Found on hard surfaces . The color varies from green, red, yellow, orange to brown. In situations where there is good light, the sponge tends to be green. While in darker areas such as on kelps, where the fronds have cut out most of the light it is a whitish yellow.It is commonly an encrusting sponge forming small patches of about 1cm in depth. It is easily identified by its “volcano like” mounds. Each volcano housing an osculum.
 * Living Requirements: ** On wave-exposed shores, it usually grows under ledges as a thin, green crust, its osculae opening at the tops of small mounds. Its green color is produced by photosynthetic pigments in symbiotic algae in the sponge’s tissues. In deeper, shaded waters, the sponge is usually a creamy yellow. In waters with strong currents, this sponge may cover large rocky areas and kelp stems.


 * Life Cycle: ** The life cycle of sponges involve two kinds of reproduction. During asexual reproduction, the sponge develops buds which break off of the parent sponge. The buds then become mature new sponges. This happens because of a special kind of cell called an archaeocyte.


 * Male and Female Differences: ** The majority of sponge species are hermaphrodite, possessing both male and female reproductive organs. Sponges reproduce by releasing sperm, which are carried by the tide until they reach another sponge. Fertilization occurs, the resulting larvae are free swimming and go through several stages until eventually the larvae settle and mature into adult sponges.
 * Interesting Facts: **
 * Bread-Crumb Sponges get their strength from a skeleton, which is made of slivers of minerals.
 * These skeletons can grow into a variety of shapes. The sponge is an encrusting species, which means it forms in flat mats over rocks.
 * The crumb of bread sponge got its name due to the way that it crumbles into small pieces when touched.
 * This animal feeds by sucking water through the small openings on its surface.

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