Link to newsround

How can sea sponges help clean up water pollution?

An orange coloured sea sponge.Getty Images

There are lots of different types of sea sponge

Sponges are used to clean lots of things, right? Think washing the dishes or a car even.

But now scientists are trying to find out if sea sponges can help clean up pollution in water.

Sea sponges are an animal that attaches itself to the ocean floor and stays in one place.

So are they making waves in cleaning up water pollution?

Read on to find out!

A huge barrel sponge in the middle of coral reef.Getty Images

Sea sponges can come in lots of different shapes and sizes!

First of all, here's some sea sponge facts!

  • There are around 8,500 different species of sponges in the world

  • They help to keep water clean by feeding on tiny particles of food that float by

  • Sponges can be many different colours, sizes, and shapes

  • They are invertebrates, which means they do not have backbones

  • Sea sponges don't have a brain, a digestive system, or even blood.

  • They are directly affected by the water they filter in and out of their bodies

  • The water gives them food and oxygen, and it flushes out anything bad

So what is the research scientists are doing?

A few years ago, scientists transplanted sea sponges into a port with polluted water in Spain to study whether they could survive there.

Only one species, the chicken liver sponge (also called the kidney sponge), which is found along the Mediterranean coast but rarely seen in the harbour, managed to survive.

All the other sponges - red encrusting sponges, leather sponges, and stinker sponges (yes, that's really what they're known as!) shrank and eventually died during the study.

And what have they found?

Now red starfish are arriving in the area. That indicates the water is getting cleaner.

One of the scientists involved said: "We tend to look more to technology to solve environmental pollution.

"But marine organisms most likely have already developed tool kits that could help us clean the oceans."

Pretty cool!

But while the scientists believe sea sponges have great potential for pollution management, they do say a lot more research is needed before we can fully understand how they interact with pollutants.