Sponge reef | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2018-10-30

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Sponge reef

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SUMMARY
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Sponge reefs are reefs formed by Hexactinellid sponges, which have a skeleton made of silica, and are often referred to as glass sponges. Such reefs are now very rare, and found only on the western Canadian continental shelf.   Although common in the late Jurassic period, sponge reefs were believed to have gone extinct during or shortly after the Cretaceous period, until the existing reefs were discovered in 1987–1988 - hence these sometimes being dubbed living fossils. 
The reefs serve an important ecological function as habitat, breeding and nursery areas for fish and invertebrates but are currently threatened by the fishery, offshore oil and gas industries. Attempts are being made to protect these unique ecosystems through fishery closures and potentially the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) around the sponge reefs.