Hexactinellid sponges are sponges with a skeleton made of four- and/or six-pointed silaceous spicules, often referred to as glass sponges.They are usually classified in the Class Hexactinellida along with other sponges in the phylum Porifera, but some researchers consider them sufficiently distinct to deserve their own phylum, Symplasma.
The design of Venus' Flower Basket (at right) contains major construction strategies that are used in civil and mechanical engineering, but at the 1,000 times smaller scale. (In this image, its structure is compared with the Swiss Tower in London, Hotel De Las Artes in Barcelona and a structural detail of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.)
Excellent articles can be found HERE and HERE. There is a VIDEO story HERE.
