glass sponge

noun

: any of a class (Hexactinellida synonym Hyalospongiae) of chiefly deep-water siliceous marine sponges with 6-rayed spicules and a skeleton often resembling glass when dried

Examples of glass sponge in a Sentence

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Ethereal white sponge gardens that were thousands of feet long, flying spaghetti monsters (a type of colonial hydrozoan), casper octopuses, thousand-year-old glass sponges and towering forests of bamboo corals made up just a few of the life forms found here. Scott Travers, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024 In the East China Sea, scientists discovered the skeleton of a glass sponge that had lived for some 11,000 years. Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Dec. 2024 For example, the deep-sea glass sponge Monorhaphis chuni has been estimated to live over 2,000 years. Scott Travers, Forbes, 19 Sep. 2024 Some species of glass sponges can live for thousands of years. Scott Travers, Forbes, 19 Sep. 2024 Most notable among them was Charles Wyville Thomson, a Scotsman who in the 1860s hauled up glass sponges, sea spiders, and other curiosities—thus debunking a theory that the deep ocean was lifeless. Amy Brady, Scientific American, 20 June 2023 Among a bonanza of fossils, the married duo has cataloged 170 marine species, including glass sponges, crustaceans called horseshoe crab shrimp, and a six-legged arthropod that may have given rise to insects. Byscience News Staff, science.org, 4 May 2023 Other critters float around them, including anemones with 8-foot tentacles, rippling squidworms, glass sponges, and ghostly white Dumbo octopuses. WIRED, 28 Feb. 2023 Found almost 8,000 feet below the sea’s surface, The E.T. Sponge is a type of glass sponge. Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 5 Nov. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1875, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of glass sponge was in 1875

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Cite this Entry

“Glass sponge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glass%20sponge. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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