Ecological studies have rarely been performed at the community level across a large biogeographic region. Sponges are now the primary habitat-forming organisms on Caribbean coral reefs. Recent species ...

A study is the first to evaluate substrate recolonization by sponges in the U.S. Virgin Islands after two catastrophic storms using genetic analyses to understand how much clonality verses sexual ...

The sponge-loop hypothesis proposes that coral reef sponges convert the dissolved organic matter (DOM) released by benthic primary producers into particulate detritus available to higher trophic ...

Biologists, using a technique that explores both genes and structural characteristics, have introduced 10 new species of marine sponge. Despite their distinction as one of Earth's oldest lifeforms and ...

Tropical oceans are known as the deserts of the sea. And yet this unlikely environment is the very place where the rich and fertile coral reef grows. Dutch researcher Jasper de Goeij investigated how ...

KEY WEST -- The kaleidoscope of life in the coral reefs under the turquoise waters of the Florida Keys is a magnet for tourists, but it’s not just a pretty view. The same chemistry that helps corals ...

In a succession of studies published this week and last month in the journals PeerJ and Zootaxa, researchers at Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) Toonen-Bowen (ToBo) Lab, using a technique ...

Australian sea lions wearing video cameras showed scientists a whole new world on the ocean floor. The footage revealed surprisingly diverse habitats like sponge gardens, coral reefs, and kelp reefs.

For the study, scuba divers collected small samples of the thin purple morphotype sponges 14 and 22 months after the two Category 5 hurricanes in St. Thomas. Named for its ropy-looking long branches, ...