The Glass Sponge (click here) gets its name from their skeleton which is made of six-pointed siliceous spicules, meaning glass-like. The Hydnoceras fossils shown in these photos are one of several thousand species of fossils belonging to the Phylum Porifera (sponges). Sponges are one of the most primitive animals, and as such, lack many of the typical features of animals including nerves and locomotion. Sponges are characterized by a feeding system unique among animals. Poriferans don't have mouths; instead, they have tiny pores in their outer walls through which water is drawn. Cells in the sponge walls filter goodies from the water as the water is pumped through the body and out other larger openings in the sponge....
The glass sponges populated the bleached reefs in the Late Devonian. There is a species still alive on Earth. Just a thought. It could support a biotic system, but, different than the zooxanthellae. It is worth a laboratory study in Australia.
