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Giant barrel sponge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Giant barrel sponge
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Order: Haplosclerida
Family: Petrosiidae
Genus: Xestospongia
Species:
X. muta
Binomial name
Xestospongia muta
(Schmidt, 1870)[1]
Synonyms
  • Petrosia muta (Schmidt, 1870)
  • Schmidtia muta Schmidt, 1870

The giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta) is the largest species of sponge found growing on Caribbean coral reefs. It is common at depths greater than 10 metres (33 ft) down to 120 metres (390 ft) and can reach a diameter of 1.8 metres (6 feet). It is typically brownish-red to brownish-gray in color, with a hard or stony texture.[2]

The giant barrel sponge has been called the "redwood of the reef"[3] because of its large size and its long lifespan, which can be more than 2000 years.[4] It is perhaps the best-studied species of sponge in the sea; a population on Conch Reef, in the Florida Keys, has been monitored and studied since 1997.[5]

YouTube Encyclopedic

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  • Sponges! | JONATHAN BIRD'S BLUE WORLD
  • Amazing footage of sponges pumping!

Transcription

Coming up next on Jonathan Bird's Blue World, Jonathan explores the biology of sponges, and you might be surprised at what he finds! Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world! When people think of a sponge, they usually imagine something like this: a cleaning sponge for washing the dishes…or for washing the car. Cleaning sponges are synthetic these days, but they used to come from the ocean. Back in the days before we had synthetic sponges for housework, cleaning sponges did come from the ocean. They were harvested by hard-hat divers walking along the ocean floor in heavy weighted boots with a rake-like tool to pluck the sponges off the bottom. It was a dangerous and difficult job. Bagfuls of sponges were lifted to the boat above. Immediately, the crew set to work cleaning the sponges. Then they were hung to air dry. After days or weeks at sea, when the boat was full of sponges, they were taken to shore, where they were auctioned to the highest bidder. Finally they were trimmed, sorted and sold to the public. Natural sponges are still harvested in nearly the same way today, but the synthetic sponge has spared the lives of countless ocean sponges! While an ocean sponge looks something like a weird plant, it's actually an animal. In fact, sponges are among the simplest multi-cellular animals on Earth. They live on the bottom of the ocean, attached to a surface and never moving because they can't walk or swim. Some are quite colorful, while others are drab. They also come in all shapes and sizes. There are tube sponges, vase sponges, barrel sponges, rope sponges, encrusting sponges and many other types. Sponges live from the frigid waters of the arctic and Antarctic, to the tropics. On many coral reefs, sponges dominate the sea floor and the drop off. One of the most common sponges on coral reefs is the barrel sponge. Barrel sponges grow to epic proportions, getting larger than a person! Although sponges can't walk or swim, they can feed. They do it by filtering tiny plankton from the water. A sponge is covered with small pores, called ostia, which lead to a system of internal canals and eventually out to one or more larger holes, called oscula. Within the canals of the sponge, chambers are lined with specialized cells called choanocytes, or collar cells. The collar cells have a sticky, funnel shaped collar and a hairlike whip, called a flagellum. The collar cells serve two purposes. First, they beat their flagella back and forth like fans to move water through the sponge. The water brings in nutrients and oxygen, while it carries out waste and carbon dioxide. Second, the sticky collars of the collar cells pick up tiny bits of planktonic food brought in with the water. Sponges are very effective filter feeders, since they are able to capture and eat particles as small as bacteria as well as much larger particles. They might not look like they are doing much, but a simple demonstration shows how effectively sponges can pump water. On a reef in the Caribbean, I make a dive with a syringe filled with a non-toxic dye called fluorescein. By squirting it around the base of some sponges, we can observe how the water is moving by watching what the dye does. Within only seconds, the dye is pumped through the sponges along with the water. As you can see, a sponge is a pretty good water pump, and also a good strainer. Any plankton that goes in with the water, won't come back out through the osculum. Tube sponges are even more spectacular to observe. They pump the dye so furiously that they look like a collection of miniature smoke stacks! The ultimate test is a hefty barrel sponge! What will a big monster like this do? It takes a few seconds for the dye to work its way through the sponge…but then it pours out like smoke from a chimney. That's pretty good pumping from those tiny little collar cells! Since sponges can't get together to reproduce, they spawn in a way similar to coral. The sperm is released into the water column by the male sponge and finds its way to the female sponges, where fertilization occurs internally. Eventually, the planktonic larvae are released from the female sponge and float around in the water column as plankton for only a few days. They then settle down and start growing. Sponges don't have many predators. There is not much nutritional value in a sponge and they're hard to digest. Hence, very few animals can eat sponges. But something was clearly eating this sponge! A sea turtle is the culprit. Sea turtles are one of the principal predators of sponges, along with a few species of fish and some invertebrates like nudibranchs. Sponges might not be very exciting and they certainly don't have much personality, but they're an ancient animal that has been living in the oceans for at least half a billion years! They can't crawl around, or swim, but they are very good at reproducing and feeding themselves by pumping water. So, chances are, sponges will continue to populate the oceans longer than people will populate the Earth.

Description

The giant barrel sponge is variable in form. It is very large and firm,[2] typically being barrel-shaped, with a cone-shaped cavity at the apex known as the osculum. However, some individuals within the same population may be low and squat or relatively tall and thin. Similarly, the surface can range from smooth to rough, rugged, and irregular, sometimes with buttresses.[2] In shallow water the color is brownish-red to brownish-gray, but at greater depths and in caves and under-hangs, or when the sponge is undergoing cyclic bleaching events, it is pinkish or white.[6]

Distribution, habitat, and climate needs

The giant barrel sponge is common on reefs throughout the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the reefs and hard-bottom areas of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. In terms of benthic surface coverage, it is the second most abundant sponge on reefs in the Caribbean region.[7] On the reefs off the Florida Keys, it may be as common at two individuals per square metre (yard), and the total biomass of the sponge is greater than any other benthic invertebrate.[5] The sponge grows on any hard surface; the smallest individuals observed are about 1 cm.[5] Two or more closely related species that are visually indistinguishable from X. muta are found on reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans (particularly Xestospongia testudinaria).[8]

Biology

Two cleaner shrimp (Stenopus hispidus) using a giant barrel sponge as a cleaning station

The giant barrel sponge is a filter feeder. Water is continually pumped into the sides of the sponge, through the sponge body, and out of the osculum at the top of the sponge. Small pores in the sponge body are connected to channels lined by collar cells, each with a flagellum, and the beating of these flagellae draws water through the channels. Incoming particles, particularly microscopic bacteria and prochlorophytes, are phagocytosed by the collar cells. Sponges like X. muta also absorb dissolved organic compounds directly from the seawater as part of their diet.[9]

The giant barrel sponge is probably dioecious, and spawns its eggs or sperm directly into the water column. Clouds of sperm from males are emitted from the osculum, while females produce flocculent masses of eggs that are slightly negatively buoyant. Spawning can occur at any time of the year, and occurs patchily on the reef, but usually with many individuals participating at the same time. Fertilization occurs in the water column.[10] Resulting sponge larvae disperse with ocean currents, but there is some genetic differentiation among populations from Florida, the Bahamas and Belize.[11]

Growth models for X. muta have been formulated from digital photographs of the same sponges over a period of 4.5 years.[4] Sponge growth rates ranged from over 400% per year to only 2% per year. The largest sponges on Conch Reef, about the size of an oil barrel, were estimated to be about 130 years old. The largest individual for which a photograph was available (now dead) was estimated to be 2300 years old.[4] By using the growth model, the age of an individual X. muta can be estimated from the osculum diameter and the base circumference.[12]

Ecology

Xestospongia muta on Conch Reef, Florida Keys, dying of "sponge orange band." 2 June 2015, 15 m depth.

The tissues of the giant barrel sponge contain photosynthetic symbiotic cyanobacteria, Synechococcus spongiarum,[13] which give the sponge its color. Individuals may undergo periodic bleaching, but this is a cyclic event, and the sponge recovers its normal coloration over time.[6] This cyclical bleaching is likely to be a response by the cyanobacteria rather than by the host sponge, it has no negative effect on the host sponge.[14] Unlike the circumstances for coral bleaching, X. muta does not appear to rely on its photosynthetic symbionts for nutrition, and they are considered commensals.[15] Unrelated to cyclic bleaching is a pathogenic condition of X. muta called "sponge orange band" that can result in the death of the sponge.[16] The cause and transmission of this pathogenic condition remains a mystery.[17]

The giant barrel sponge is an important member of the reef community. Sponges filter large amounts of water, and are a predominant link in benthic-pelagic coupling on reefs and they harbor diverse assemblages of bacteria that can take part in nitrification and carbon fixation.[18] It serves as a habitat for various invertebrates which live on the surface or in the interior[5] and is grazed upon by some parrotfish.[19] It is also host to a diverse community of microbes, some of which are primary producers or involved in nitrification.[20]

References

  1. ^ van Soest, Rob. "Xestospongia muta". World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Zea, S.; et al. (2014). "The Sponge Guide".
  3. ^ "Redwoods of the Reef". Pawlik Lab.
  4. ^ a b c McMurray, S. E.; Blum, J. E.; Pawlik, J. R. (2008). "Redwood of the reef: growth and age of the giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta in the Florida Keys". Marine Biology. 155 (2): 159–171. doi:10.1007/s00227-008-1014-z. S2CID 55834932.
  5. ^ a b c d McMurray, Steven E.; Henkel, Timothy P.; Pawlik, Joseph R. (2010). "Demographics of increasing populations of the giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta in the Florida Keys". Ecology. 91 (2): 560–570. doi:10.1890/08-2060.1. ISSN 0012-9658. PMID 20392020.
  6. ^ a b McMurray, Steven E.; Blum, James E.; Leichter, James J.; Pawlik, Joseph R. (2011). "Bleaching of the giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta in the Florida Keys". Limnology and Oceanography. 56 (6): 2243–2250. Bibcode:2011LimOc..56.2243M. doi:10.4319/lo.2011.56.6.2243.
  7. ^ Loh, Tse-Lynn; Pawlik, Joseph R. (2014). "Chemical defenses and resource trade-offs structure sponge communities on Caribbean coral reefs". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (11): 4151–4156. Bibcode:2014PNAS..111.4151L. doi:10.1073/pnas.1321626111. PMC 3964098. PMID 24567392.
  8. ^ Bell, James J.; Smith, David; Hannan, Danielle; Haris, Abdul; Jompa, Jamaludin; Thomas, Luke (2014). "Resilience to Disturbance Despite Limited Dispersal and Self-Recruitment in Tropical Barrel Sponges: Implications for Conservation and Management". PLOS ONE. 9 (3): e91635. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...991635B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091635. PMC 3961256. PMID 24651687.
  9. ^ Pawlik, Joseph R.; McMurray, Steven E.; Erwin, Patrick; Zea, Sven (2015). "A review of evidence for food limitation of sponges on Caribbean reefs". Marine Ecology Progress Series. 519: 265–283. Bibcode:2015MEPS..519..265P. doi:10.3354/meps11093.
  10. ^ Ritson-Williams, Raphael; Becerro, Mikel A.; Paul, Valerie J. (2004). "Spawning of the giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta in Belize". Coral Reefs. 24: 160. doi:10.1007/s00338-004-0460-4. S2CID 38718270.
  11. ^ López-Legentil, S.; Pawlik, J. R. (2008). "Genetic structure of the Caribbean giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta using the I3-M11 partition of COI". Coral Reefs. 28: 157–165. doi:10.1007/s00338-008-0430-3. S2CID 24622468.
  12. ^ "Xestospongia muta Age Calculator".
  13. ^ Usher, Kayley M. (2008). "The ecology and phylogeny of cyanobacterial symbionts in sponges". Marine Ecology. 29 (2): 178–192. Bibcode:2008MarEc..29..178U. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0485.2008.00245.x. ISSN 1439-0485.
  14. ^ McMurray, Steven E.; Blum, James E.; Leichter, James J.; Pawlik, Joseph R. (2011). "Bleaching of the giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta in the Florida Keys". Limnology and Oceanography. 56 (6): 2243–2250. Bibcode:2011LimOc..56.2243M. doi:10.4319/lo.2011.56.6.2243. ISSN 1939-5590.
  15. ^ López-Legentil, Susanna; Song, Bongkeun; McMurray, Steven E.; Pawlik, Joseph R. (2008). "Bleaching and stress in coral reef ecosystems: hsp70 expression by the giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta". Molecular Ecology. 17 (7): 1840–1849. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2008.03667.x. PMID 18331247. S2CID 3567880.
  16. ^ Cowart, J. D.; Henkel, T. P.; McMurray, S. E.; Pawlik, J. R. (2006). "Sponge orange band (SOB): a pathogenic-like condition of the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta". Coral Reefs. 25 (4): 513. doi:10.1007/s00338-006-0149-y. S2CID 44595340.
  17. ^ Angermeier, Hilde; Kamke, Janine; Abdelmohsen, Usama R.; Krohne, Georg; Pawlik, Joseph R.; Lindquist, Niels L.; Hentschel, Ute (2011). "The pathology of sponge orange band disease affecting the Caribbean barrel sponge Xestospongia muta". FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 75 (2): 218–230. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.01001.x. PMID 21118276.
  18. ^ McMurray, Steven E.; Henkel, Timothy P.; Pawlik, Joseph R. (2010). "Demographics of increasing populations of the giant barrel sponge Xestospongia muta in the Florida Keys". Ecology. 91 (2): 560–570. doi:10.1890/08-2060.1. ISSN 1939-9170. PMID 20392020.
  19. ^ Dunlap, M.; Pawlik, JR (1998). "Spongivory by parrotfish in Florida mangrove and reef habitats". Marine Ecology. 19 (4): 325–337. Bibcode:1998MarEc..19..325D. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.616.9432. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0485.1998.tb00471.x.
  20. ^ Southwell, Melissa W.; Weisz, Jeremy B.; Martens, Christopher S.; Lindquist, Niels (2008). "In situ fluxes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen from the sponge community on Conch Reef, Key Largo, Florida". Limnology and Oceanography. 53 (3): 986–996. Bibcode:2008LimOc..53..986S. doi:10.4319/lo.2008.53.3.0986.
This page was last edited on 14 March 2024, at 20:50
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