Spongia

thumb|Spongia lamella in the [[Mediterranean Sea]] Spongia is a genus of marine sponges in the family Spongiidae, originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1759, containing more than 60 species. Some species, including Spongia officinalis, are used as cleaning tools, but have mostly been replaced in that use by synthetic or plant material.

==Classification== The following species are recognised in the genus Spongia: Subgenus unassigned: Spongia alpheushyatti Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia alpheusi Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia hyatti Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia jeanbaptistei Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia lacinulosa Lamarck, 1814 Spongia lamarcki Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 †Spongia mantelli Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia muricata sensu Linnaeus, 1759 Spongia solidahyatti Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia stellifera Lamarck, 1814 Subgenus Australospongia Cook & Bergquist, 2001 Spongia gracilis Cook & Bergquist, 2001 Subgenus Heterofibria Cook & Bergquist, 2001 Spongia catarinensis Mothes, Kasper, Lerner, Campos & Carraro, 2006 Spongia corallina Kim & Sim, 2009 Spongia corrugata Cook & Bergquist, 2001 Spongia decooki Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia gorgonocephalus Cook & Bergquist, 2001 Spongia manipulatus Cook & Bergquist, 2001 Spongia mokohinau Cook & Bergquist, 2001 Spongia peddemorsi Samaai, Pillay & Janson, 2020 Spongia purpurea Kim & Sim, 2009 Spongia smaragdus Samaai, Pillay & Janson, 2019 Subgenus Spongia Spongia adjimensis (Topsent, 1925) Spongia agaricina Pallas, 1766 Spongia anclotea de Laubenfels & Storr, 1958 Spongia arabica arabica Keller, 1889 Spongia australis Bergquist, 1995 Spongia bailyi (Lendenfeld, 1886) Spongia barbara Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 Spongia bibulus Rao, 1941 Spongia brunnea Lévi, 1969 Spongia cerebralis Thiele, 1905 Spongia ceylonensis (Dendy, 1905) Spongia coelosia Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 Spongia conifera (Lendenfeld, 1886) Spongia cookii Hyatt, 1877 Spongia distans (Schulz, 1900) Spongia excavata (Lendenfeld, 1889) Spongia fistulosa (Lendenfeld, 1889) Spongia fuscoides Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia graminea Hyatt, 1877 Spongia hispida Lamarck, 1814 Spongia hospes (Lendenfeld, 1889) Spongia illawarra (Whitelegge, 1901) Spongia lamella (Schulze, 1879) Spongia lesleighae Helmy, El Serehy, Mohamed & van Soest, 2004 Spongia lignea Hyatt, 1877 Spongia lobosa (Poléjaeff, 1884) Spongia magellanica Thiele, 1905 Spongia matamata de Laubenfels, 1954 Spongia mexicana Hyatt, 1877 Spongia mollicula Hyatt, 1877 Spongia mollissima Schmidt, 1862 Spongia nicholsoni Hyatt, 1877 Spongia nitens (Schmidt, 1862) Spongia obliqua Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 Spongia obscura Hyatt, 1877 Spongia oceanica de Laubenfels, 1950 Spongia officinalis Linnaeus, 1759 Spongia osculata (Lendenfeld, 1889) Spongia osculosa (Lendenfeld, 1889) Spongia perforata(Lendenfeld, 1889) Spongia pilosa (Wilson, 1902) Spongia raoi Van Soest & Hooper, 2020 Spongia reticulata (Lendenfeld, 1886) Spongia solitaria Hyatt, 1877 Spongia spinosa (Lendenfeld, 1888) Spongia sterea de Laubenfels & Storr, 1958 Spongia suriganensis (Wilson, 1925) Spongia sweeti (Kirkpatrick, 1900) Spongia tampa de Laubenfels & Storr, 1958 Spongia tectoria Hyatt, 1877 Spongia tenuiramosa (Dendy, 1905) Spongia tubulifera Lamarck, 1814 Spongia violacea Lévi, 1969 Spongia virgultosa (Schmidt, 1868) Spongia zimocca Schmidt, 1862