Biology
All sponges in this class are strictly marine, and, while they are distributed worldwide, most are found in shallow tropical waters. Like all other sponges, they are sedentary filter feeders.
All three sponge body plans are represented within class Calcarea : asconoid, syconoid, and leuconoid. Typically, calcareous sponges are small, measuring less than 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in height, and drab in colour. However, a few brightly coloured species are also known.
Calcareous sponges vary from radially symmetrical vase-shaped body types to colonies made up of a meshwork of thin tubes, or irregular massive forms. The skeleton has either a mesh or honeycomb structure.
Read more about this topic: Calcareous Sponge
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