read moreThey look like fuzzy fingers, waving gently from the depths of the ocean floor but make no mistake — they’re stone cold killers.
Scientists have discovered four new species of carnivorous sponge off the Pacific Coast, including one deadly variety found hanging from the deep-sea ridges off southern Vancouver Island.
Fortunately, these killers are about the size of a piece of spaghetti and they feed only on the tiny, shrimp-like amphipods and copepods that drift through the sea.
“Sponges characteristically feed on small particles, like bacteria, little tiny guys,” said Henry Reiswig, a retired professor of biology at McGill University, volunteer taxonomist at the University of Victoria and the Royal British Columbia Museum, and self-described “sponge guy.
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