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Sea stars, rockfish, and squat lobsters find refuge in and amongst the sponges. This is the equivalent of 1,000 railway cars full of silica a year! Glass kingdom on the seafloor If the reefs grow only one centimetre per year, it has been estimated by scientists that it would take 57,000 5,6 tonnes of silica. The three species of glass sponges in Hecate Strait that are able to build reefs require an amazing amount of silica. 3 These skeletons remain intact long after the sponge itself dies, which has resulted in some reefs reaching heights of up to 20 m 4– the height of a six-storey building. Their intricate skeleton is further strengthened as they grow and touch other glass sponges gaining support from each other and creating the three- dimensional framework, which is called a reef. Cleverly, glass sponges also fuse the points on the spicules together, much like scaffolding, to create a lattice-like skeleton. The skeleton is made of silica, which the sponge forms into delicate needle-like structures called “spicules”.

Glass sponges form a massive skeleton for structural support. Left: Heterochone calyx growing on a pebble, Middle: Farrea occa and Aphrocallistes vastus settled on one another, Right: Glass spicules of Farrea occa (credit: Dr.