One of World’s Oldest Animals Records Ocean Climate Change

The sea is home to some 5,000 species of sponges. These multicelled animals first appeared about 800 million years ago. Although they lack muscles, bones, and a nervous system, one particular species has something that scientists want: information on the state of the climate thousands of years ago.

In most species of glass sponges, the spicules consisting of silica are microscopic and can be found littered in sediments underneath where they lived and died. However, Monorhaphis chuni, found in the Pacific Ocean at depths below about 1,000 meters, can live for several millennia and produce a single giant basal spicule that can reach 3 meters in length. Read more.