美国动画片《海绵宝宝》于1999年开播，故事情节主要围绕着主角海绵宝宝和他的好朋友派大星、邻居章鱼哥、上司蟹老板等人展开，场景设定于太平洋海底，一座被称为比奇堡的城市。

The American cartoon "SpongeBob" started broadcasting in 1999. The plot mainly revolves around the protagonist SpongeBob and his good friend Patrick Star, neighbor Octopus brother, boss crab, etc. the scene is set in the Pacific Ocean, a city called beechburg.

万万没想到的是，动画片中可爱的海绵宝宝竟然是真实存在的一种海洋生物。

Unexpectedly, the lovely SpongeBob in the cartoon turned out to be a real marine creature.

海绵动物是非常原始的多细胞动物，起源可追溯到5.8亿年前的寒武纪前期。中国科学院曾在我国贵州发现了距今6亿年的贵州始杯海绵化石，是迄今为止人类发现的最早的海绵化石。

Sponges are very primitive multicellular animals, which can be traced back to the Early Cambrian period 580 million years ago. Guizhou Shibei Sponge Fossils, 600 million years ago, have been discovered in Guizhou by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is the earliest sponge fossils ever discovered by human beings.