Color Challenge Wednesday - Yellow Life in the Latticework

Sponges like these have lived in the oceans for millions of years. Many species are thought to have first evolved more than 650 million years ago, and individual sponges can live for millennia. Their spicules, the lattice work you see, are made of hundreds of concentric layers of silica, gathered around a core. A cross-section can look a lot like concentric tree rings, but these layers don’t correspond to an exact time period in the same way that tree rings do. The makeup of those layers has a close relationship with the temperature of the surrounding seawater and will change accordingly.

Sponges are an integral part of the oceans and planets ecosystem. Sponges are filter feeders and can filter up to one hundred times their body mass of water each day, This flow not only feeds the sponge but rids the water of impurities and other toxins.

Sponges can be found in one form or another in all the world's oceans and help sustain the healthy environments found within them.

Thanks for reading.

Scott

For more images and stories - http://www.scottstevensonphotography.ca/