This book summarizes the latest advances in sponge science through a concise selection of studies presented at the VIII World Sponge Conference. The collection of articles reflects hot, ongoing debates in molecular research, such as the monophyletic versus paraphyletic nature of the sponge group, or the new awareness on pros and cons of standard barcodes and other markers in sponge taxonomy and phylogeny. It also features articles showing how the new sequencing technologies reveal the functional and phylogenetic complexity of the "microbial universe" associated to sponge tissues. The...