Contact: Sandra Hines
shines@u.washington.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington

Glass-Sponge Reef

Caption: The same species of glass sponge in this 2005 photo from British Columbia waters is one of a trio of reef-building sponges that have been discovered on the seafloor 30 miles west of Grays Harbor. The sponges, the tallest of which are 1 1/2 feet tall, have grown on mounds of skeletons of previous generations of glass sponges. The image depicts only a tiny part of a reef in Canadian waters that stretches miles in length.

Credit: University of Victoria

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Related news release: Waters off Washington state only second place in world where glass sponge reefs found