Hexactinellida

Hexactinellid sponges are sponges with a skeleton made of four- and/or six-pointed siliceous spicules, often referred to as glass sponges. They are usually classified along with other sponges in the phylum Porifera, but some researchers consider them sufficiently distinct to deserve their own phylum, Symplasma. Some marine biologists believe that glass sponges are the longest-lived animals on earth; these scientists tentatively estimate a maximum age of up to 15,000 years.

Hexactinellida

Ernst Haeckel · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
glass spongePBDB
Sits inside
PoriferaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 538 million years on record.

The record covers at least 538.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 635 Mya to 0 Mya.

Cambrian — about 251 of 2847 occurrencesOrdovician — about 137 of 2847 occurrencesSilurian — about 42 of 2847 occurrencesDevonian — about 91 of 2847 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 65 of 2847 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 92 of 2847 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 7 of 2847 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 15 of 2847 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 51 of 2847 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 16 of 2847 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 18 of 2847 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 777 of 2847 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 174 of 2847 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 902 of 2847 occurrencesPaleocene — about 17 of 2847 occurrencesEocene — about 129 of 2847 occurrencesOligocene — about 16 of 2847 occurrencesMiocene — about 45 of 2847 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 2847 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 2847 occurrences648–626 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences626–605 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences605–583 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences583–561 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences561–540 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences540–518 Mya — about 59 occurrences518–497 Mya — about 178 occurrences497–475 Mya — about 31 occurrences475–453 Mya — about 61 occurrences453–432 Mya — about 69 occurrences432–410 Mya — about 44 occurrences410–389 Mya — about 9 occurrences389–367 Mya — about 50 occurrences367–345 Mya — about 29 occurrences345–324 Mya — about 32 occurrences324–302 Mya — about 21 occurrences302–281 Mya — about 25 occurrences281–259 Mya — about 64 occurrences259–237 Mya — about 26 occurrences237–216 Mya — about 29 occurrences216–194 Mya — about 30 occurrences194–173 Mya — about 8 occurrences173–151 Mya — about 672 occurrences151–130 Mya — about 159 occurrences130–108 Mya — about 79 occurrences108–86 Mya — about 348 occurrences86–65 Mya — about 615 occurrences65–43 Mya — about 44 occurrences43–22 Mya — about 117 occurrences22–0 Mya — about 44 occurrences538.8 Mya11.7 ka648 Mya0 Mya

2,847 occurrences of Hexactinellida on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

2,847 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

303 formations

White Limestone — 55.22°N, 6.40°WCalcaires Lites — 45.78°N, 5.52°ECouches de Birmensdorf — 46.25°N, 5.67°EUpper Chalk — 51.63°N, 0.80°WUpper Chalk — 51.68°N, 0.57°WUpper Chalk — 51.37°N, 0.45°EUpper Chalk — 50.78°N, 0.00°EUpper Chalk — 50.65°N, 1.57°WUpper Chalk — 50.60°N, 1.20°WUpper Chalk — 50.89°N, 0.01°WUpper Chalk — 52.73°N, 1.35°EVic Marls — 41.85°N, 2.23°EVic Marls — 41.95°N, 2.22°EVic Marls — 41.93°N, 2.25°EIlsenburg — 51.90°N, 10.67°EIlsenburg — 51.83°N, 10.78°EJasna Gora — 50.07°N, 19.62°EJasna Gora — 50.45°N, 19.52°EJasna Gora — 50.42°N, 19.35°EJasna Gora — 50.73°N, 19.13°EChiampo — 45.53°N, 11.25°EMarjum — 39.22°N, 113.33°WMarjum — 39.23°N, 112.33°WMarjum — 39.27°N, 113.28°WMarjum — 39.00°N, 113.00°WZawodzie — 50.82°N, 19.13°EZawodzie — 50.43°N, 19.55°EZawodzie — 50.47°N, 19.55°EHanwang — 31.50°N, 104.23°EBone Spring — 31.90°N, 104.88°WBone Spring — 31.35°N, 104.86°WBone Spring — 31.35°N, 104.86°WBone Spring — 31.46°N, 104.91°WBone Spring — 31.50°N, 104.96°WBone Spring — 31.24°N, 104.76°WBurgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.38°N, 116.43°WWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 51.58°N, 1.47°WWest Melbury Marly Chalk — 51.08°N, 1.18°ELa Manga — 35.95°S, 69.98°WLa Manga — 38.80°S, 70.20°WLlanfawr Mudstone — 52.23°N, 3.37°WArnager Limestone — 55.05°N, 14.78°ENeuburger Weiß — 48.73°N, 11.18°EMalongulli — 33.58°S, 148.89°EBell Canyon — 31.83°N, 104.87°WBell Canyon — 31.93°N, 104.72°WBell Canyon — 31.92°N, 104.75°WBell Canyon — 31.25°N, 104.51°WMuldraugh — 40.04°N, 86.87°WMuldraugh — 40.06°N, 86.90°WNayband — 30.97°N, 52.99°ENayband — 33.60°N, 51.00°ENayband — 32.94°N, 51.93°ENayband — 34.13°N, 58.20°ENayband — 31.82°N, 54.34°EAhlen — 51.78°N, 8.03°EAhlen — 51.72°N, 8.03°EAhlen — 51.77°N, 8.05°EAhlen — 51.72°N, 7.93°EAhlen — 51.72°N, 7.85°ECastle Hayne — 35.25°N, 78.07°WCastle Hayne — 34.63°N, 77.73°WCastle Hayne — 34.63°N, 77.75°WCastle Hayne — 34.85°N, 77.70°WCastle Hayne — 34.44°N, 77.83°W

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The named rock units Hexactinellida has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 279 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,428 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hexactinellida and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Hexactinellida and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

3,747 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 587 sites for Hexactinellida, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

362 references

Each of the 2,847 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 350 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Hexactinellida

Credit
Ernst Haeckel
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPorifera through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Schmidt 1870