# Spongilla
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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spongilla
> Source revision: 1357180009
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{{Short description|Genus of sponges}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Spongilla_lacustris.jpg
| image_caption = ''[Spongilla lacustris](/source/Spongilla_lacustris)'' in the [Hanford Reach](/source/Hanford_Reach) of the [Columbia River](/source/Columbia_River), Washington, USA.
| taxon = Spongilla
| authority = [Lamarck](/source/Jean-Baptiste_Lamarck), 1816[{{cite WoRMS | author = van Soest, R. | year = 2014 | title = ''Spongilla'' Lamarck, 1816 | id = 167224 | access-date = 2014-05-22 | db = porifera }}]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = See text
| synonyms =
* ''Crelloxea'' Hechtel, 1983
* ''Euspongilla'' Vejdovsky, 1883
* ''Spongilla (Euspongilla)'' Vejdovsky, 1883
}}
'''''Spongilla''''' is a [genus](/source/genus) of freshwater [sponges](/source/Sponge). They can be found on submerged objects in clean lakes, ponds, streams, and rivers.[{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Douglas Grant |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pennak_s_Freshwater_Invertebrates_of_the/GqIctb8IqPoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA41&printsec=frontcover |title=Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea |date=2001-08-07 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-471-35837-4 |pages=41, 48 |language=en}}] Spongilla was first publicly recognized in 1696 by [Leonard Plukenet](/source/Leonard_Plukenet)[{{Cite book|last=Gunther|first=A|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/79589|title=The Annals and Magazine of natural history, zoology, botany, and geology|publisher=London Taylor and Francis, Ltd|year=1881|pages=77}}] and described by [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](/source/Jean-Baptiste_Lamarck) in 1816.[{{Citation |last=Manconi |first=Renata |title=Suborder Spongillina subord. nov.: Freshwater Sponges |date=2002 |work=Systema Porifera |pages=926-927 |editor-last=Hooper |editor-first=John N. A. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_97 |access-date=2026-05-22 |place=Boston, MA |publisher=Springer US |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4615-0747-5_97 |isbn=978-0-306-47260-2 |last2=Pronzato |first2=Roberto |editor2-last=Van Soest |editor2-first=Rob W. M. |editor3-last=Willenz |editor3-first=Philippe|url-access=subscription }}] The [type species](/source/type_species) is ''[Spongilla lacustris](/source/Spongilla_lacustris)'', described by [Carl Linnaeus](/source/Carl_Linnaeus)''.''[{{Cite book|last=Brusca|first=Richard C. |title=Invertebrates |edition= 3rd |publisher=Sinauer Associates |year=2016 |isbn=9781605353753 |location=Sunderland, MA |pages=222}}] Using their ostia and osculum, these sponges filter the water for small aquatic organisms such as [protozoa](/source/protozoa)ns, [bacteria](/source/bacteria), and other free-floating [pond life](/source/pond_life).[{{Cite journal |last=Skelton |first=J |last2=Strand |first2=M |date=2013 |title=Trophic ecology of a freshwater sponge ( Spongilla lacustris) revealed by stable isotope analysis |url= |journal=Hydrobiologia |volume=709 |issue=1 |pages=227–235 |doi=10.1007/s10750-013-1452-6 |via=ECBHost}}] Sponges of the genus ''Spongilla'' partake in symbiotic relationships with the green algae, [zoochlorella](/source/zoochlorella)e, which gives the sponges a green appearance, and without which they would appear white.[{{Citation | last = Hogg | first = John| author-link = John Hogg (biologist) | title = On the distinctions of a plant and an animal and on a fourth kingdom of Nature | journal = Edinb N Phil J (N Ser) | volume = 12 | pages = 218-219 | year = 1860|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/On_the_distinctions_of_a_Plant_and_an_An/_s56iOARQZAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA218&printsec=frontcover}}]
== Reproduction ==
''Spongilla'' are [hermaphrodite](/source/hermaphrodite)s, producing [egg](/source/egg) and [sperm](/source/sperm).[{{Cite journal |last=Saller |first=Uwe |last2=Weissenfels |first2=Norbert |date=December 1985 |title=The development of Spongilla lacustris from the oocyte to the free larva (Porifera, Spongillidae) |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00312280 |journal=Zoomorphology |language=en |volume=105 |issue=6 |pages=367–374 |doi=10.1007/BF00312280 |issn=0720-213X|url-access=subscription }}] Sperm is released from one sponge and brought in through the ostia of another sponge. Once the sperm reaches the body cavity it [fertilizes](/source/fertilisation) an egg, which develops into a free-swimming [larva](/source/larva). The free-swimming larvae are released out the [osculum](/source/osculum) and will eventually settle and attach elsewhere.[{{Cite journal |last=Baldacconi |first=R. |last2=Nonnis-Marzano |first2=C. |last3=Gaino |first3=E. |last4=Corriero |first4=G. |date=2007-09-15 |title=Sexual reproduction, larval development and release in Spongia officinalis L. (Porifera, Demospongiae) from the Apulian coast |url= |journal=Marine Biology |volume=152 |issue=4 |pages=969–979 |doi=10.1007/s00227-007-0747-4}}]{{Better source needed|reason=Citation is not specific to this genus|date=May 2026}} Since the larvae are developed inside the spongilla, it is [viviparous](/source/Viviparity).
Unlike marine sponges, freshwater sponges are exposed to far more variable environmental conditions, so they have developed [gemmule](/source/gemmule)s as an overwintering mechanism. This is a form of [asexual reproduction](/source/asexual_reproduction). When exposed to environmental factors such as cooler water in the fall, or triggered by endogenous factors in the summer, the sponges form gemmules.