It’s just a blob, with no eyes, no nervous system, no muscle, no gut, no circulatory system, no tissues of any sort really – just cells embedded in a jelly matrix. They’re not even considered true animals. Yet according to the Nature report the sponge genome, which was read by researchers at the University of Queensland and the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in California, also sports much of the basic tool kit of all animal life.
Read more at Cosmos magazine.