What a sneezing sea sponge named Belinda can tell us about B.C.s oceans [Video]

Twenty-three metres below the surface of Barkley Sound, a sea sponge named Belinda is telling researchers about changing ocean conditions.

“Honestly, it was very opportunistic,” Dominica Harrison, one of the study’s authors told Global News.

“They just turned on the cameras, and there Belinda was. Just hanging out.”

The study, published in the Marina Ecology Progress Series, looked at Belinda’s response to its changing environment and the rare footage was captured by Ocean Networks Canada over four years, making it the longest continuous recording of these animals in the wild.

Eight 3D cameras captured Belinda’s behaviour every hour, watching it feed, filter and in some cases sneeze for days on end to clear debris.

“The biggest thing that we found is that sponges actually hibernate, like bears,” Harrison said.

Co-author Sally Leys with the University of Alberta added that Belinda would hibernate every winter.

“That’s what I find really cool because it tells you that it senses and responds to global cycles,” she said.

Belinda also …