{"id":570245,"date":"2026-03-30T07:08:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/570245\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:08:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:08:25","slug":"vancouver-island-diver-discovers-ancient-rare-cloud-sponges-in-saanich-inlet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/570245\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver Island diver discovers ‘ancient’ rare cloud sponges in Saanich Inlet"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Vancouver Island diver has captured rare footage of ancient cloud sponges deep beneath the water of the Saanich Inlet, part of a fragile reef system once thought extinct.<\/p>\n

Ryan Swan, a local diver and content creator, documented the sponges during a technical dive after months of searching along the inlet\u2019s shoreline.<\/p>\n

\u201cCloud sponges: Ancient, rare, fragile. Hidden in the deep waters of British Columbia\u2019s coast, I\u2019ve been hunting for them for months,\u201d Swan says in his video, describing the elusive organisms that live far below typical recreational diving depths.<\/p>\n

Cloud sponges, also known as glass sponges, are made up of silica structures that resemble glass and can live for decades or even centuries. They play a key role in marine ecosystems by filtering seawater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey filter a lot of the nutrients out. And actually, one thing that the cloud sponges do is, when they\u2019re filtering the water, they\u2019ll actually take the silica that\u2019s in the water, and that\u2019s what grows the sponge, because it\u2019s made up of glass,\u201d Swan told CHEK News.<\/p>\n

The rare formations are typically found in deep ocean environments around the world, but B.C. is one of the few places where they can be reached with the right training and equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey grow in deeper parts around the world and uniquely here in British Columbia, they grow a little bit shallower, although still quite deep,\u201d he said. \u201cReally, technical diving is what\u2019s going to allow you to get down to see them. But other places in the world, a lot of these types of sponges, they live well beyond the depths where scuba diving and technical diving can take you.\u201d<\/p>\n

To reach them, Swan underwent advanced technical dive training, which includes using a different blend of gas in Scuba tanks, allowing one to dive beyond standard recreational limits and extend their time underwater.<\/p>\n

During the dive, Swan and his team descended to around 40 metres, where visibility fades and conditions become more challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 20 metres, the green starts to fade. At 30, it\u2019s like swimming down a dim hallway. By 40 metres, it feels like midnight in the middle of the day,\u201d he says in the video.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the group finally found the sponges clinging to steep underwater rock faces in clusters.<\/p>\n

Watch Ryan Swan\u2019s video of the discovery below:<\/p>\n

Some can grow to the size of a small car and may be more than 200 years old, making them particularly vulnerable to disturbances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey grow slowly, centimetre by centimetre, which means some of these big ones could
easily be older than Canada itself,\u201d Swan said. Because of their fragility, even minor contact like a misplaced fin kick can cause irreversible damage.<\/p>\n

Swan says part of his goal in documenting the dive is to raise awareness about the region\u2019s unique marine life and promote conservation.<\/p>\n

Through his online platform, he highlights underwater ecosystems around Vancouver Island and encourages responsible diving practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe Sea Adventures is all about promoting scuba diving here on Vancouver Island and showcasing our unique marine life, as well as ocean conservation and stewardship and collaborating with local divers and oceans enthusiasts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Department of Fisheries and Oceans says protecting glass sponge reefs is critical<\/a> as they provide habitat for marine species and help maintain water quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlass sponge reefs in the Strait of Georgia and Howe Sound are particularly vulnerable to the direct and indirect impacts of activities such as bottom-contact fishing activities and anchorage,\u201d the DFO says on its website.<\/p>\n

It makes discoveries like Swan\u2019s both rare and significant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll grow in clusters, almost like a garden. So you\u2019ll see\u2026a whole bunch of them, kind of in the clusters, and some of them, when they get start getting, like, really big and prolific, it\u2019s really cool to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Vancouver Island diver Ryan Swan discovers rare cloud sponges deep in the Saanich Inlet. (Courtesy Ryan Swan\/Be Sea Adventures)\"\"Vancouver Island diver Ryan Swan discovers rare cloud sponges deep in the Saanich Inlet. (Courtesy Ryan Swan\/Be Sea Adventures)\"\"Vancouver Island diver Ryan Swan discovers rare cloud sponges deep in the Saanich Inlet. (Courtesy Ryan Swan\/Be Sea Adventures)\"\"Vancouver Island diver Ryan Swan discovers rare cloud sponges deep in the Saanich Inlet. (Courtesy Ryan Swan\/Be Sea Adventures)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Vancouver Island diver has captured rare footage of ancient cloud sponges deep beneath the water of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-570245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}