glass sponge

Noun

glass sponge (plural glass sponges)

1. Any organism of the class Hexactinellida of sponges, which has a skeleton made of four-pointed or six-pointed siliceous spicules.
   • Glass sponges are rare in the Ordovician and Silurian but are preserved in enormous numbers in Late Devonian formations of western New York.1996, Carroll Lane Fenton, Pat Vickers Rich, Mildred Adams Fenton, Thomas H. V. Rich, The Fossil Book: A Record of Prehistoric Life, Revised Edition 1989, New Corrections 1996, page 114
   • Glass sponges are found in deep water (greater than 500 m) in all oceans of the world, but only inhabit shallower waters (up to 20 m) in four known locations: Antarctica, southern New Zealand, submarine caves in the Mediterranean and coastal waters of the north Pacific.2007, S. P. Leys, G. O. Mackie, H. M. Reiswig, “The Biology of Glass Sponges”, in D. W. Sims, editor, Advances in Marine Biology, volume 52, page 85

   Synonyms:

   hexactinellid, hexactinellid sponge