Home of the Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Hunters





Welcome to the Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Hunters page!

This page is currently under construction and we are updating it often!

The Louisiana Freshwater Sponge Project was started by Dr. Mary Miller and a group of interns through Baton Rouge Community College, in the Summer of 2019. The project was a follow up from the original survey that was conducted by Dr. Michael Poirrier in 1968.

Aims of the Project:

1. Bring awareness of freshwater sponges to the general public through outreach. activities.
2. Provide research experiences to first and second year college students.
3. Continuously monitor the freshwater sponge population in Louisiana as environmental health indicators and to share those finding in scientific journals and conference presentations.



The project is now shared between two institutions:

Baton Rouge Community College, still led by Dr. Miller, and Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, led by Dr. Stephanie Archer. The two have continued to collaborate with Dr. Poirrier to identify sponges and answer questions related to these environmental health indicators.


For direct information, please contact Dr. Mary Miller at:

or at







Scientific collection of sponges for this project is governed through the issued Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries scientific collecting Permit #SCP202.