Screenshot via MBARI video The newly discovered carnivorous
"harp sponge." Candelabra-shaped and carnivorous, a newly
discovered sea creature — the "harp sponge" — has been found
clinging to the ocean floor off Monterey Bay. Armed with
"Velcro-like barbed hooks," the sponge — first observed via
remote vehicle by a Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
(MBARI) team in 2000 — lives about two miles under the sea and
feeds on crustaceans, reports Our Amazing Planet. Velcro-like
barbed hooks cover the sponge's branching limbs, snaring
crustaceans as they are swept into its branches by deep-sea
currents. Once the harp sponge has its meal, it envelops the
animal in a thin membrane, and then slowly begins to digest its
prey. Two sponges were collected off the coast of California by
researchers; 10 others were filmed. The largest observed
specimen was about 14 inches tall, and the sponges varied in
structure. Scientists believe the sponge evolved a multi-pronged
shape, in part, to cover more food-grabbing surface a