The Mysterious ‘E.T. Sponge’ Turned Out to be a New Genus and Species of Sponge
Spotted in 2016 and 2017, the E.T. sponge was discovered by Cristiana Castello Branco, a post-doctoral researcher at NOAA Fisheries’ Systematics Laboratory at the National Museum of Natural History. In an interview with NOAA, Castello Branco explains that it’s a long process between when scientists first see a sponge and when they can confirm it’s a new sponge and give it a name.
“While we know very little about deep-sea sponges, we do know they are very abundant, so chances are often good that we will find new species,” Castello Branco said.
