# How much deeper would the oceans be without sponges? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2002, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-oceans-be-without-sponges/116197 "2002-06-27T07:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flip-Disc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc79bd/32.png) [@Flip-Disc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flip-Disc)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-oceans-be-without-sponges/116197/1 "2002-06-27T07:59:23Z")
Stupid but funny. And needs an answer ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-oceans-be-without-sponges/116197/2 "2002-06-27T08:07:51Z")
Sponges do not exert enough pressure on water to compress it. So sponges can not actually cause water to take up less volume. If you removed sponges, I imagine the ocean would probably get shallower (by maybe one-millionth the width of a hair) because you don’t have those sponges there taking up room. Seriously, did you think about this for two seconds? Fill a bucket with water. Add a sponge. See if the water level goes down. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-oceans-be-without-sponges/116197/3 "2002-06-27T08:25:17Z")
The answer to your next question is ‘As much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood’ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-oceans-be-without-sponges/116197/4 "2002-06-27T08:28:58Z")
Actually, if you removed the sponges, the oceans would get shallower, as **Achernar** said, but that doesn’t mean that they are any deeper than they would be if there never had been any sponges, since (pretty much)all of the nutrients from which the sponges are composed were already in solution and therefore part of the volume of the sea anyway (although the rea-arrangement of matter into more complex molecules may have brought about a change in volume). ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-oceans-be-without-sponges/116197/5 "2002-06-27T08:58:06Z")
“Sponges grow in the ocean…that floors me…do you realize how muich deeper the oceans would be if that didn’t happen?”–Steven Wright 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-oceans-be-without-sponges/116197/6 "2002-06-27T11:53:56Z")
Depends what you mean by “deep” - - Bill Clinton ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-oceans-be-without-sponges/116197/7 "2002-06-27T11:57:04Z")
I love Steve Wright. But this isn’t a General Question. This is closed. **DrMatrix** - General Questions Moderator