# The genomes of the aquarium sponges Tethya wilhelma and Tethya minuta (Porifera: Demospongiae)

## TL;DR

This paper presents high-quality draft genomes of two aquarium sponge species, Tethya wilhelma and Tethya minuta, to support research on sponge biology and responses to environmental changes.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is the provision of high-quality draft genomes for two culturable aquarium sponge species.

## Key findings

- The genomes of Tethya wilhelma and Tethya minuta are provided as valuable resources for studying sponge biology.
- These species are suitable as laboratory models for understanding animal evolution and responses to environmental challenges.

## Abstract

Sponges (Phylum Porifera) are aquatic sessile metazoans found worldwide in marine and freshwater environments. They are significant in the animal tree of life as one of the earliest-branching metazoan lineages and as filter feeders play crucial ecological roles, particularly in coral reefs, but are susceptible to the effects of climate change. In the face of the current biodiversity crisis, genomic data is crucial for species conservation efforts and predicting their evolutionary potential in response to environmental changes. However, there is a limited availability of culturable sponge species with annotated high-quality genomes to further comprehensive insights into animal evolution, function, and their response to the ongoing global change. Despite the publication of a few high-quality annotated sponge genomes, there remains a gap in resources for culturable sponge species. To address this gap, we provide high quality draft genomes of the two congeneric aquarium species
Tethya wilhelma and
Tethya minuta, small ball-shaped demosponges that are easily maintained long-term in
ex situ culture. As such, they offer promising opportunities as laboratory models to contribute to advancing our understanding of sponge biology and provide valuable resources for studying animal evolution, function, and responses to environmental challenges.