Dangerous Beauty
Image courtesy MBARI via ASU
The lyre sponge (Chondrocladia lyra) may look like an underwater candelabra, but make no mistake: It's a carnivore with indiscriminate tastes. Its vertical stalks maximize the surface area exposed to drifting, microscopic prey.
The new sponge was discovered off the coast of Northern California in 11,100 feet (3,400 meters) of water by researchers with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. (Related: "Earliest Animals Were Sea Sponges, Fossils Hint.")
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