Longest-lived sponge species

Longest-lived sponge species
Who
Scolymastra joubini
What
15,000 year(s)
Where
Not Applicable
When
1500 BC

The longest-lived species of sponge is Scolymastra joubini, an Antarctic hexactinellid or glass sponge. It grows extremely slowly in this region's exceedingly cold waters, and an estimate of age for one 2-m-tall specimen in the Ross Sea gave a result of 23,000 years. However, this sea's fluctuating levels suggests that it could not survive here for more than around 15,000 years. Yet even if that latter, lower age estimate is itself an overestimate, this sponge is still one of the oldest – if not the oldest – animal specimens on the planet.