What is a sneezing sea sponge? [Video]

A study into the behaviour of a sea sponge off the coast of British Columbia has revealed the animals have the humanlike ability to sneeze.

Researcher Sally Leys said her team examined footage captured over a span of four years by eight cameras installed on the sea floor by Ocean Networks Canada in an effort to study the sponge’s response to the changing climate and weather patterns.

She said they observed the sponge performing regular “sneeze-like” contractions lasting upwards of a day at a time to clear debris that accumulated while it was filter feeding.

“If you put dirt onto the sponge … it’s an irritant to the system, and it has to get rid of it, so it wraps it up in mucus, and it pumps it through and out it goes,” she said in an interview. “But it’s a slow sneeze.”

Leys said the smaller the sponge, the …