A new study shows that sea sponges are among the oldest creatures in existence.
Researchers were able to better understand how sponges evolved by using time-lapse video.
Jasper de Goeij, a marine Biologist at the University of Amsterdam and author of the new paper, said that sneezing is an adaptation that sponges have made to keep themselves clean.
Sea sponges have been around for half a billion years.
The videos below were taken by the research group and are credited to Current Biology/ Kornder et al.
Current biology by Kornder et al.
The Caribbean Aplysina archeri, also known as a stove-pipe sponge, is one of the species recorded in the study.
De Goeij said in the press release that sponges don't sneeze like humans do. Sponge and human sneezes are used as waste disposal mechanisms.
Sea sponges collect particles from the water for food.
The muck they don't eat can cause a sponge's pores to get blocked. sponges use a sneezing mechanism to get rid of stuff they can't digest
There is a sponge covered in ostium, which can act as a conduit for water.
In the videos shared by researchers, the inlets of water slowly let out the waste mucus which accumulates on the sponge's surface.
Sponges sometimes sneeze to get rid of the stuff.
Current biology by Kornder et al.
A sponge may be a fish's treasure. The sponge's recently sneezed out mucus was observed by researchers as fish and other animals fed off of it.
Most of the organic matter in the water around the coral reef is not concentrated enough to be eaten by other animals. According to a study co-author, sponges transform this material into eatable mucus.
Evidence from deep sea dives suggests sponges sneeze. There are many unanswered questions about the behavior.
The mucus moves along defined paths on the surface of the sponge, but more analysis is needed to find out what is happening.
The original article was published by Business Insider.
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