Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
You ask and we deliver! And if you have ever had any doubt we are the baddest blog ever, we have carnivorous sponge video! Bolstered by a commenter about the mechansism of flesh eating sponges, I asked Dr. Vacelet to give some more insight into this process.
I was pointed to Vacelet & Duport (2004) Prey capture and digestion in the carnivorous sponge Asbestopluma hypogea (Porifera: Demospongiae). Zoomorphology 123: 179-190). Dr. Vacelet was also kind enough to provide this description.
The prey, mostly small crustaceans and other invertebrates provided with setae or thin appendages, is trapped on the surface of appendages of the sponges, which is lined by tiny hook-like spicules acting as Velcro. Then the cells of the sponge migrate towards the prey, and individually phagocytize and digest fragment of the prey. This is a very unusual phenomenon in pluricellular animals, a unique case in which a non-microscopic prey is digested in the absence of any digestive cavity. This has been investigated in one species, but is likely general for all the carnivorous sponges (family Cladorhizidae), which are deep-sea species usually a few cm high (not really dangerous for a diver...).But it gets better, there is video (note this requires Real Player and you need to select Une eponge carnivore on the right side)
Comments
Sacre bleu! Convergent evolution in sponges and fly-traps!
Posted by: Peter Etnoyer | December 18, 2006 12:28 PM
Thank you so much for linking this video.
Posted by: Bobryuu | December 18, 2006 1:07 PM
No problem Bob!
Posted by: CR McClain | December 18, 2006 1:21 PM
Magnifique!
Posted by: The Science Pundit | December 18, 2006 3:08 PM