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National Geographic : 1977 Mar
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UNDERSEA WRECKS create new worlds for marine life to colonize. The skeleton of the Rhone, a steamer that sank in a hurricane off Salt Island in the British Virgin Islands in 1867, is home to dozens of sponges, which share the housing development with corals, algae, and other organisms. The most prominent tenant is Verongia fistularis, the cluster of tube sponges at right. Humble animals with a formidable biochemistry, sponges have made significant contributions to medicine. Numerous substances with antibiotic properties have been discovered, and research on the Caribbean's Tethya crypta led to the synthesis of a compound that doctors now use to combat leukemia. [] TEXT BY MICHAEL E. LONG 407
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