# How do sponges reproduce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635 "2002-12-30T06:43:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/1 "2002-12-30T06:43:11Z")
Just wondering about the life of a sponge. IIRC, they are animals. What organs do they hold within, if any? And, do they reproduce asexually, I WAG? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/2 "2002-12-30T07:03:01Z")
Sponges are weird as all hell. They’re multicellular organisms without discrete tissues or organs. Instead, they have a complex system of filtering mircorganisms and organic material from water using specialized cells. Oddly enough, they can reproduce sexually when in the mood. Most sponges are hermaphroditic and can both release and take in sperm cells. They can also release swimming larvae they produce asexually, though, I guess throgh parthenogenesis. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/3 "2002-12-30T07:06:19Z")
Thanks, Pravnik! Sea-life is very fascinating to me. Like pregnant male sea-horses, and other such oddities! If you don’t mind me saying so, it’s no wonder SpongeBob’s always so happy… 😉 - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/4 "2002-12-30T07:10:40Z")
Another interesting thing that a sponge is just about the only animal you can put in a blender witout killing it. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/5 "2002-12-30T08:19:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Cermonies \* > \*\*Another interesting thing that a sponge is just about the only animal you can put in a blender witout killing it. \*\* It’s true! It’s been done! From: [http://www.takeourword.com/Issue099.html](http://www.takeourword.com/Issue099.html) > [@](#): > > Fungus is a Latin word and is a form of the the Greek spoggos, “a sponge”. (The double g in Greek is called “digamma” and often represents an ng sound.) By the way, the sponge which is a familiar bath-time adjunct is not a dead animal, it is merely the skeleton which is laid down by a loosely associated colony of animals. The biologist Lewis Thomas noted that these creatures are so loosely associated that you may liquidize a living sponge in a blender, place the resulting goop in a bucket of sea water and in a few hours it will have reorganized itself into a brand-new colony. **In fact, you could even liquidize two different species of sponge in the same blender and, left to their own devices, they will miraculously reassemble themselves as two separate colonies.** (Please excuse this non-etymological diversion but we think it’s pretty amazing.) ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/6 "2002-12-31T22:02:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _Spongebob Squarepants:_ > Can you reproduce by **budding**? Can you? Can you? ---
**Author:** ![Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siddhartha_Vicious)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/7 "2002-12-31T22:39:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pravnik \* > \*\* Oddly enough, they can reproduce sexually when in the mood. \*\* Horny sponges. I’ll never be able to swim in the ocean again. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/8 "2002-12-31T22:52:50Z")
[A web page on the subject](http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/porifera/poriferalh.html) pravnik, the web page says that the swimming larvae you mention are the fruit of sexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction works as follows: > [@](#): > > Sponges that reproduce asexually produce buds or, more often, gemmules, which are packets of several cells of various types inside a protective covering. Fresh water sponges of the Spongillidae often produce gemmules prior to winter. These then develop into adult sponges beginning the following spring. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/9 "2002-12-31T22:56:52Z")
How deep would the ocean be if there weren’t any sponges? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-sponges-reproduce/145635/10 "2003-01-01T00:09:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Siddhartha Vicious \* > \*\*Horny sponges. I’ll never be able to swim in the ocean again. \*\* Don’t worry – they clean up their own mess.