"Recently, scientists announced they encountered a sponge the size of a minivan during a deep-sea expedition last year. They believe the 12 foot by 7 foot creature to be the largest known sponge on the planet. It was found within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, the largest protected conservation area on the planet," the Hawaii Magazine says.

"Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Hawaii have been researching the sponge since it was discovered last year and only released their findings of the creature last week—a lengthy process that involved remoted underwater cameras that measured the animal using laser points to piece together its size and dimensions.

"An approximate age for the sponge hasn’t been determined yet, but for comparison scientists said large sponges found in more shallow waters have been estimated at 2,300 years old indicating this newly discovered one could be one of the oldest animals on Earth.

"“The largest portion of our planet lies in deep waters, the vast majority of which has never been explored,” Papahanaumokuakea research specialist Daniel Wagner with NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries said in a statement of the 7,000 feet down expedition. “Finding such an enormous and presumably old sponge emphasizes how much can be learned from studying deep and pristine environments.”

"A sponge the size of a minivan was found last summer during a deep-sea expedition in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Scientists aboard NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer using remotely operated vehicles to explore some of the deepest areas of PMNM came across the sponge during a dive at a depth of 7,000 feet," the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument's website says.

The massive sponge was captured on high-definition video and is close to 12 feet long and seven feet wide. It is the largest sponge known to date.

"An article describing the find, titled “The largest sponge in the world?” and authored by PMNM Research Specialist Daniel Wagner and Chris Kelley from the University of Hawaiʻi, was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Marine Biodiversity on May 24, 2016. It can be accessed in its entirety at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12526-016-0508-z."

"The largest dimensions reported for any sponge were those of a colony of Aphrocallistes vastus Schulze, 1887, found in shallow waters (<25 m) off western Canada. The colony measured 3.4 m in length, 1.1 m in height and 0.5 m in width (Austin et al. 2007). Large sponges are known to exist in deep water as well—for example, Monorhaphis chuni, which forms giant basal spicules that can reach lengths of up to 3 m (Wang et al. 2009)," the peer-reviewed scientific journal Marine Biodiversity says.

"During a recent expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands aboard the R/V Okeanos Explorer, we encountered a massive sponge (Fig. 1), whose length, height and width exceeded the dimensions of the largest specimens reported in the literature. The sponge was captured on high-definition video from the two-body remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system (Deep Discoverer and Seirios) during a dive on a ridge extending north from Bank 9 (27.13082°N, 175.57085°W 2117 m, 12 August 2015), within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

"The height and width of the sponge were measured from horizontal images taken from the Deep Discoverer ROV while two parallel laser beams were projected onto the sponge, whereas its length was measured from a Seirios ROV overhead image using the dimensions of the ROV (3.15 m × 1.85 m) for calibration. ImageJ image analysis software (Wayne Rasband, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD) was used to obtain the measurements. The sponge was determined to be over 3.5 m in length, 2.0 m in width and 1.5 m in width, thus exceeding the dimensions of the largest sponge previously known (Austin et al. 2007)."

"The scientific journal Marine Biodiversity published a study describing the largest sponge known in the world, found at a depth of 7,000 feet within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument during a deep-sea expedition last summer. The sponge was close to 12 feet long and 7 feet wide, comparable in size to a minivan," the official press release says.



"The sponge was documented during an expedition aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to explore deep-water habitats in the Monument using remotely-operated vehicles at depths ranging between 2,300–16,000 feet. While not much is known about the lifespan of sponges, some massive species found in shallow waters (<100 feet) are estimated to live more than 2,300 years.

"The sponge was captured on high-definition video during a remotely-operated vehicle dive on a ridge extending from a seamount south of Pearl and Hermes Atoll within Papahānaumokuākea. Scientists from NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA’s Office for Exploration and Research and the University of Hawaiʻi described the sponge after a year of study."

"Researchers in the summer of 2015 were surveying an ocean ridge in a marine conservation area off the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and amid ordinary ocean floor fare — a bit of coral, some volcanic rock — they came across something surprising: they discovered what they say is the world’s largest known sponge," the SOEST Hawaii says.

"Roughly the size of a minivan, the animal was discovered about 7,000 feet down in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The rare sponge, with a bluish-white color and brain-like appearance, stunned scientists when it appeared in the remote cameras attached to their underwater rover. A study published this week in the scientific journal Marine Biodiversity described the massive creature.

"Sponges are similar to coral reefs in that they provide critical habitat for other sea life and filter large amounts of sea water and remove material other animals in the ocean don’t eat. According to scientists, some of the large sponges found in more shallow waters have been estimated to be over 2,300 years old, leading researchers to wonder how old some of these deep-sea organisms that have never been encountered can become."

"Deep sea scientists exploring the remote waters between Hawaii and Midway atoll have found a gigantic sea sponge “about the size of a minivan” that could be the oldest animal on earth," The Guardian says.



"The creature was discovered about 2,100m (7,000ft) down, in a marine conservation area between north-western Hawaii and Midway. The area is largely unexplored, Wagner said, and “over 98% of the area of this monument is below 100m, so below something that we would ever be able to dive through with scuba diving”.

"A remote-operated submersible found the sponge while exploring the depths of the Papahānaumokuākea marine park. Cast into the sub’s lights, the sponge’s brain-like folds appear in a pale, nearly white shade of blue."

"Scientists exploring off the coast of Hawaii have discovered the world's largest recorded sea sponge, the Science reports.

"A remote-controlled submersible spotted the minivan-sized sponge last year, according to a study published this week in the journal Marine Biodiversity.

"The sponge is roughly 3.5 meters long and nearly 2 meters wide. Though dating sponges is difficult, other massive sponges found have been estimated to be thousands of years old."

"In a paper published last week in Marine Biodiversity researchers described the discovery of a giant sponge, measuring an estimated 12 feet by 7 feet, found 7,000 feet under the surface of the ocean inside the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii," the Popular Science says.

"The age of the sponge is unknown, but in the paper, the researchers note that other massive sponges, found in shallower waters have estimated lifespans of 2300 years.

"The sponge was spotted in a dive last year by researchers working with an underwater remote operated vehicle (ROV) off the NOAA ship, the Okeanos Explorer. The Okeanos Explorer is currently exploring the waters of the Marianas which has already helped researchers spot an out-of-this-world jellyfish. You can watch their progress live during scheduled dives and missions."