Students should check their experiments every day for signs of growth. Care should be employed when examining the sponges under a stereomicroscope since the gemmules may take more than a day to attach firmly to the bottom of the well. Magnification at 30 X or less should be sufficient for the visualization of growth. As the experiments progress, students will be able to detect major growth abnormalities immediately, but should also look for more subtle developmental abnormalities (such as the absence of a well defined water vascular system). As mentioned earlier, normal sponge growth.
