Scientists estimate giant Caribbean sponge may be more than 2,300 years old and still filtering seawater today

• Image: AI GeneratedImagine an animal that began its life centuries before the Roman Empire reached its height and has quietly continued its daily routine ever since.
• According to recent reports, scientists have identified a giant Caribbean sponge believed to have lived for around 2,300 years, making it one of the oldest animals ever documented.
• The sponge is thought to have settled on the seabed as a microscopic larva around the time the Carthaginian general Hannibal had yet to cross the Alps.