So here is something interesting – the Ping Pong Tree Sponge. One glance at it and you will probably end up saying – ‘I want that ethereal lamp for my bedroom’. But once you come to know about the dark side of this elegant and beautiful creature, you are going to back away. Just like the Harp Sponge we discussed earlier this week, the Ping Pong Tree Sponge is a stone cold killer. Let us learn 10 interesting Ping Pong Tree Sponge facts and figure out why it created so much noise in the scientific community.
Interesting Ping Pong Tree Sponge Facts: 1-10
1. The Ping Pong Tree Sponge belongs to the family of myriads of deadly carnivorous sponges.
2. As always, it has a jaw-breaking scientific name – Chondrocladia lampadiglobus.
3. Living in the deserts of deep ocean, this particular sponge species can be found at the depths of 8,860 feet.
4. The Ping Pong Tree Sponge is found in Easter Island, Chilean Exclusive Economic Zone (South Pacific Ocean) and in Eastern Indo-Pacific.
5. This sponge is around 50 centimeters tall and is composed of a thin stalk. On the top are stems radiating out from the central body.
6. At the end of each radiating stem is a beautiful ethereal globule which pretty much looks like a suddenly stopped gelatinous explosion.
7. Unfortunately, these globules are the true killers despite their amazing beautiful spectral and soft looks. Those beautiful globules are all covered in tiny hook-shaped spicules.
8. Whenever tiny crustacean happens to pass by and accidentally touch the spicules, they get trapped in the tiny velcro-like hooks.
9. As the prey continues to struggle to set itself free, the cells inside the Ping Pong Tree Sponge move towards the prey and start consuming tiny fragments of the doomed prey while it is still alive.
10. The cells of the sponge behave very much like amoeba and make use of phagocytosis to gradually consume its prey which simple appears to be melting away on the translucent globules. This is pure slo-mo horror by a creature that lacks a digestive cavity.