1. deepseanews
  2. Carnivorous Sponge Video!

Carnivorous Sponge Video!

By cmcclain on December 18, 2006.

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)

Tags
Uncategorized

More like this

Sponge Bob's Bigger and Older Cousin
The phylum Porifera (sponges; "pore bearing) is divided into three classes, Hexactinellida, Demospongiae, and Calcarea. Calcarea is the oddball of the group, building skeletal elements out of calcium carbonate (like corals and snails) instead of silica. The Hexactinellids (glass sponges) of which I…
Killer sponges
Sounds kind of like an oxymoron doesn't it? Who knew sponges could be carnivorous? Scientists have described four new species of carnivorous sponges in a newly published article in Zootaxa. Check out this video from the lead author of the study, Lonny Lundsten who is a Senior Research Technician at…
Do sponges have circadian clocks?
Much of the biological research is done in a handful of model organisms. Important studies in organisms that can help us better understand the evolutionary relationships on a large scale tend to be hidden far away from the limelight of press releases and big journals. Here's one example (March…
Do sponges have circadian clocks?
Much of the biological research is done in a handful of model organisms. Important studies in organisms that can help us better understand the evolutionary relationships on a large scale tend to be hidden far away from the limelight of press releases and big journals. Here's one example (March 30…

Thank you so much for linking this video.