Hexactinellid

Glass sponges
Temporal range: Late Ediacaran–present[1]
"Hexactinellae" from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Hexactinellida
Schmidt, 1870
Subgroups

See text.

Synonyms
  • Hyalospongiae
Bolosoma stalked glass sponge

Hexactinellid sponges are sponges with a skeleton made of four- and/or six-pointed siliceous spicules, often referred to as glass sponges. They are usually classified along with other sponges in the phylum Porifera, but some researchers consider them sufficiently distinct to deserve their own phylum, Symplasma. Some experts believe glass sponges are the longest-lived animals on earth;[2] these scientists tentatively estimate a maximum age of up to 15,000 years.

  1. ^ Brasier, Martin; Green, Owen; Shields, Graham (April 1997). "Ediacarian sponge spicule clusters from southwestern Mongolia and the origins of the Cambrian fauna" (PDF). Geology. 25 (4): 303–306. Bibcode:1997Geo....25..303B. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<0303:ESSCFS>2.3.CO;2.
  2. ^ "Hexactinellid sponge (Scolymastra joubini) longevity, ageing, and life history". genomics.senescence.info. Retrieved 2 March 2023.