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Brooklyn Tech Zooquarium & Odditorium Phylum Porifera: Sponges

 vs.

// They're not the same. //

Fun facts:
 * Living sponges look nothing like the common bathroom sponge, which happens to only be the skeleton of a particular sponge.
 * The smallest sponges can be a millimeter tall when fully grown while the largest sponge is just about as big as a barrel.
 * The texture of a sponge varies from extremely soft to as hard as a rock.
 * To prevent other sponges from attacking them, sponges can actually produce chemicals to keep those other sponges cells from growing.
 * Chemicals that sponges make are being used to find a cure for cancer and many other diseases.
 * Sponges do not have organs; they are made of special cells that carry out all the necessary processes.
 * In Latin, "porifera" means "pore-bearing".
 * If you were to break up a sponge into thousands of pieces, the cells would come back together in the exact same shape within several hours.
 * Sponges have no dependence on sunlight, allowing them to grow at any depth.
 * Only 5% of all sponges can live in freshwater; the other 95% live in salt water (oceans & seas).
 * One cubic centimeter of a sponge can filter more than 20 liters of water a day.

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