Geodia barretti is a massive deep-sea sponge species found in the boreal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean,[1] and is fairly common on the coasts of Norway and Sweden.

rRNA ribo-tags revealed a microsymbiont community, dominated by group SAR202 of Chloroflexota, candidate phylum "Poribacteria", and Acidobacteriota.

The most abundant mRNAs coded for key metabolic enzymes of nitrification from ammonia-oxidizing Archaea as well as candidate genes involved in related processes.

The whole genome of this sponge was first published in 2023;[7] it was sequenced on PacBio and Illumina (HiSeqX) platforms from a specimen collected in 2016 in Kosterhavet National Park, on the Swedish west coast.

According to morphology and molecular data, this species belongs to the family Geodiidae and to the genus Geodia.

[10] One single specimen was formally recorded from the Mediterranean Sea, in the 'Canyon des Moines' (south Corsica), at 167 m (water temperature was 13 °C).

[1] Deeper specimens (1100-1700 meter depths) were also recorded off the Atlantic coast of Morocco (Ibero-Moroccan Gulf).

[15] The sponge-feeding deep-sea chiton Hanleya nagelfar is often found on G. barretti in the North-East Atlantic.

It was calculated that the sponge itself (canals, choanocyte chambers and cells) represents only 5% of its total volume, the rest being microbes.

Streptomyces poriferorum (type strain P01-B04T), an Actinomycetota, was isolated and described in two Norwegian sponges (Antho dichotoma and G.

[24] Using metabolomics on specimens of G. barretti from Sweden, most of these compounds could be found, in addition to nucleotides, nucleosides and nucleobases, as well as some fatty acids.

[25] (monobrominated) 3-methyl-2’-deoxycytidine, 3-methyl-2’-deoxyuridine (3-mCyd, 3-mdCyd)[34] NOT antibacterial[35] β-alanine betain ɣ-aminobutyric acid betain tetramethylammonium ion Erngren, Smit, Pettersson, Cárdenas, Hedeland (2021)[25] Wörheide and Michaelis (2002)[39] de Kluijver, Nierop, Morganti, Bart, Slaby, Hanz, de Goeij, Mienis, Middelburg (2021)[40]