Did you know? Some species of sponges are among the oldest and longest-lived animals on Earth! Research has found that certain sponges can live for thousands of years.

There are more than 5,000 species of sponges (phylum Porifera) around the world. They come in many shapes and colors—and they have no true organs or tissues, just reproductive, feeding, and skeleton-building cells. They are hollow, taking water and tiny food particles in through small pores in the body and passing water out through a large central hole, the osculum.

Photo: Nhobgood Nick Hobgood, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons | Tube sponge (Callyspongia sp.) pictured

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