Lyre Sponge
- Discovered: 2012
A sponge is more than just those you clean dishes with. They also live in more places than just a pineapple under the sea. The Lyre Sponge is one of the newest animal species discovered in the ocean in the last decade. It is also one of the most unique we’ve ever seen. The name comes from how it looks, as it resembles a lyre or a harp. It was found off the coast of Californian shores at roughly 11,500 feet (3500 meters) by Welton L. Lee, Henry M. Reiswig, William C. Austin, and Lonny Lundsten of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The species was voted top 10 by the International Institute for Species Exploration in 2012, out of 140 species.