Porifera
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 90 specimens of Porifera, or sponges. These date from 1870 to 2007. This collection contains around 50 dried Porifera specimens and a further 40 specimens in spirit. The collection represents Porifera from around the world, and specimens come from the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Japanese and North seas and from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Several of the dried specimens are from the 1902 Robertson collection, and were collected from around the British Isles. There are also several Venus flower-baskets and glass-rope sponges, which were popular Victorian collectables. Many of the specimens in spirit were collected in the late 1800s and were part of the Anderson College collection. There are also a few specimens collected in the 1980s by scuba divers during marine surveying around Scotland. In addition, the collection contains a few Blaschka glass models from the 1909 Mason collection. Porifera or ‘sponges’ are the simplest form of animal life. They are sessile filter-feeders mostly found in the marine environment. There are approximately 5,000 species found at all depths in waters worldwide.
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