Most sponges are hermaphrodites, that is, they produce both male and female sex cells. Sponges do not produce eggs until they are at least three years of age. Some sponges reproduce by budding, a process whereby a tip of a branch is constricted off by the sponge, or broken off during a storm. Sponges have few enemies. A few species of fish, seaslugs and hawks bill turtles eat sponges.
Sponges provide habitat for wide variety of animals.
As many as 16,000 different species of animals have been found in one loggerhead sponge. Commercial sponges which have been cleaned, bear little resemblance to the living sponge, because all the living tissue has been removed and only the skeleton remains. The Florida sponge fishery is centered in Tarpon Springs on the Gulf Coast. Sponges are gathered by divers in fairly deep water. Invertebrate Zoology, Vol.