Electrical recording from a glass sponge. Hope that helps. Sponges are hermaphrodites which means that they are both male and female - they can produce both egg and sperm. The eggs or sperm are released at difference times to enable cross-fertilization with other sponges. After eggs are fertilized, the larva floats about before it settles to the ocean bottom where it will grow into an adult sponge.
Sponges also reproduce asexually by the formation of buds or gemmules.
Answered by Adrienne Mason, in consultation with Dr. Andy Spencer. What is the life span of a sponge. Many sponges in temperate regions are usually dormant in the winter, where they lack flagellated chambers and other components of their water canal system. When the temperature increases the sponge redevelops into its functional adult condition. An example of a sponge that can do this, is a common sponge of the Northwest Pacific called Haliclona sp. , a purple, low intertidal sponge species.