A type of sponge characterized by a soft, flexible skeleton made of spongin, lacking hard spicules. Stromatoporoids: A group of extinct marine organisms that built reef-like structures ...

The Amazon Reef is a 9,500 sq km system of corals, sponges and rhodoliths, Greenpeace says. The reef is almost 1,000 km long, and is located where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

The new species are all types of sponges, “grubby little” creatures that are often overlooked but play a critically important role in coral reef communities, one of the researchers said.