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-- S p o n g e s --
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| Q 1. | ||
| Has artificial sponge culture been carried on successfully? |
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| Q 2. | ||
| Do sponges always grow attached to some solid object? |
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| Q 3. | ||
| Are any sponges found in fresh water? |
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| Q 4. | ||
| Are sponges plants or animals? |
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| Q 5. | ||
| Are natural sponges plants or animals? |
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| Q 6. | ||
| Are commercial sponges taken from deep water of better quality than those from shallow waters? |
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| Q 7. | ||
| I have been given the impression that the ordinary sea sponge is an animal. If it is, what kind of an animal is it? What does it eat? How does it get its food? How does it breed? Does it ever cross-breed? |
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| Q 8. | ||
| I would like to grow some sponges in an aquarium for a science project. Would this be possible? If it would, where can I obtain sponges? What kind of fishes should I put in with them? |
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| Q 9. | ||
| Can you please tell me the best way to preserve the freshwater sponge, Spongilla fragilis? |
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| Q 10. | ||
| Someone told me that the sponges taken by Greek divers around Tarpon Springs, Florida, still have great commercial value, but that there is little harvesting done any more. Could an efficiently organized group of SCUBA divers make a good income gathering and marketing these sponges? |
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| Q 11. | ||
| I have heard of a type of sponge that destroys water-dwelling bacteria in large amounts. Can you direct me to further information? |
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| Q 12. | ||
| Does the sponge, Callyspongia plicifem, contain a toxin that severely irritates the eyes when it directly or indirectly comes in contact with them? A friend of mine experienced temporary blindness after recovering a specimen similar to this species, and then inadvertently rubbing his eyes before cleaning his hands. |
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| Q 13. | ||
| I hope that you will not cancel my membership for sending you the enclosed odoriferous specimen that I found on the beach at Sanibel Island, Florida. Is it a sponge? |
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| Q 14. | ||
| How are sponges preserved? |
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| Q 15. | ||
| In 1900, my father brought some Venus's flower baskets from the Philippine Islands. One is complete with the creature inside. Can you provide information about this sponge and its inhabitant? |
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| Q 16. | ||
| For years, I have been buying loofa sponges, thinking that they were the dried remains of a sponge. Recently, I heard that they are actually the dried remains of a gourd. Which is true? |
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| Q 17. | ||
| What is the effect of a red-tide outbreak on sponges? |
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| Q 18. | ||
| While walking on the beach at Fire Island, New York at low tide, I found a considerable number of flat yellow objects. As you can see from the enclosed specimens, they are oval in shape, about 4 to 5 inches long, and roughly 1/4 inch thick. The texture of the objects is like smooth cardboard, and no visible openings can be seen. What are they? |
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| Q 19. | ||
| Are there sponge farms in operation at this time? |
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| Q 20. | ||
| While diving at a depth of 30 feet off the British Virgin Islands, I saw a 1-inch tangled ball of branchlets on a sea whip. Could the ball-like knot have been the intertwined arms of a basket star? |
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| Q 21. | ||
| How does a sponge digest its food? |
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| Q 22. | ||
| Is it possible to keep marine sponges in a home aquarium? |
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| Q 23. | ||
| I always thought that my loofa sponges were cleaned and dried sea animals. Now, a friend tells me that they are the dried remains of a gourd. Which is true? |
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| Q&A 1. | Has artificial sponge culture been carried on successfully? |
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| The artificial cultivation of sponges has been found to be biologically feasible, although little or no commercial success has resulted locally from attempts at this because of various setbacks. The method generally adopted was to fasten small blocks of sponge to cement disks an inch thick and ten inches in diameter. Under normal conditions regeneration begins almost immediately and the cut piece soon adheres firmly to the base. Although a sponge is a marine animal, fragments or “cuttings” will grow like plants and reach marketable size in about 4 years. From 1935 to 1939 more than 140,000 velvet and wool sponges were raised by the Bahamas government on protected planting grounds off Andros Island; 800,000 more at Turneffe Lagoon, east of Belize. In both localities the sponges were almost completely wiped out by a blight. Since this time the farming has not been resumed. |
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| Q&A 2. | Do sponges always grow attached to some solid object? |
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| Although they have free-swimming larvae, all adult sponges grow firmly attached to some solid object. The few sponges found drifting or rolling freely along -- the bottom have been broken loose by fish or by wave action, and usually do not survive for long. Some sponges grow on the flat blades of manatee grass (Thalassia), and often these small forms will be cast up on the beach as the grass dies and breaks loose from its roots. |
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| Q&A 3. | Are any sponges found in fresh water? |
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| Yes. The family Spongillidae, which is of world-wide occurrence, includes some 150 species of small sponges, all found in freshwater streams, ponds, and lakes. They grow as tufts or irregular masses on sticks, stones, or plants. They may be yellow or brownish in color, and a fe1v are green because of large numbers of tiny algae plants that live in the tissues of the sponge. Freshwater sponges have no commercial value, not having the well-developed skeleton of spongin material that characterizes the more familiar sheepswool or bath sponges of the tropic seas. |
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| Q&A 4. | Are sponges plants or animals? Tarpon Springs, Florida |
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| Despite their appearance, sponges are animals. They belong to one of the lowest groups of the animal kingdom, the Porifera. The name means "pore bearing". Sponges have no distinct organs and feeding is accomplished by the water circulating through its pores and carrying food to the internal cells. "Digestion in this case is "intracellular", i.e., occurring within the cells, rather than "extracellular", occurring within a cavity such as a stomach, as is the case with most "higher" animals. The common household sponge is merely the skeleton from which the living matter has been removed. The skeleton of such sponges is tough and elastic, and is made of a substance called "spongin". Other species have sharp spicules of silica or calcium carbonate and are useless for cleaning purposes. Florida's sponge industry has declined to a low level in the last decade, due to a severe fungus disease and to over fishing. |
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| Q&A 5. | Are natural sponges plants or animals? Rartan, New Jersey |
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| Sponges are animals which live attached to the bottom of the sea. The bath sponges used in everyday life are really the skeletons of certain sponges taken from warm seas. These particular skeletons are composed of spongin, a fibrous material which retains its elastic properties long after the sponge is dead. Many other sponges are useless as bath sponges because their skeletons are composed of hard silica or calcium carbonate or combinations of silicious spicules and spongin, all of which would be rigid and cause scratching when used. The spicules of some sponges cause painful irritations of the skin when contacted. |
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| Q&A 6. | Are commercial sponges taken from deep water of better quality than those from shallow waters? Key West, Florida |
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| Generally sponges living in deep water have a slower growth rate than those growing in shallow water. Slower growing sponges are more solid and firm in texture and of better commercial quality. Consequently sponges from deeper water are usually better than those from shallow water. |
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| Q&A 7. | I have been given the impression that the ordinary sea sponge is an animal. If it is, what kind of an animal is it? What does it eat? How does it get its food? How does it breed? Does it ever cross-breed? Key West, Florida |
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| Sponges are animals low in the scale of evolution and not closely related to any others. They live fastened to some object on the sea floor and eat small living and dead particles carried in sea water. The sea water is drawn into fine canals which traverse the inner parts of the sponge. Particles of food are picked up by special cells in small chambers into which the canals open, and are digested there. Eggs are produced in the tissues adjacent to the canals and are fertilized in these tissues. As they develop, they form larvae which are set free in the water and which have fine, vibratory hairs which keep them moving in the water. When they reach a suitable bottom surface, they attach themselves and eventually grow into adult sponges. There is no certain information on cross-breeding of sponges. |
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| Q&A 8. | I would like to grow some sponges in an aquarium for a science project. Would this be possible? If it would, where can I obtain sponges? What kind of fishes should I put in with them? Roundup, Montana |
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| Almost all sponges live in salt water and you would need a salt water aquarium in which to grow them. The commercial sponges grow only in warm seas and are not handled easily in small aquaria under artificial conditions. Sponges feed on small particles of organic matter, plankton, or bacteria in the water. You could probably obtain small live sponges from one of the biological supply houses, addresses of, which can be provided. |
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| Q&A 9. | Can you please tell me the best way to preserve the freshwater sponge, Spongilla fragilis? Morton Grove, Illinois |
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| The purpose to which such specimens are to be put is usually important in deciding what preservatives to use. However, the best technique for general purposes is to immerse them in 70% ethyl alcohol. It is necessary to change them into a new solution of 70% ethyl alcohol after about one day, as sponges contain a quantity of water, which dilutes the alcohol. Care should be taken to keep preserved specimens in tightly closed jars, or the fluid may evaporate, spoiling the specimens. |
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| Q&A 10. | Someone told me that the sponges taken by Greek divers around Tarpon Springs, Florida, still have great commercial value, but that there is little harvesting done any more. Could an efficiently organized group of SCUBA divers make a good income gathering and marketing these sponges? St. Louis, Missouri |
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| The sponge industry of Florida has declined greatly during the past two decades. This is not because of lack of interest by the fishermen of Tarpon Springs or elsewhere, but because a devastating fungus disease damaged the sponges so greatly that fishing became less profitable. There has, however, been some fishing all along, and in the last few years production has increased slightly, in response to slowly improving stocks of sponges. In 1961, ten sponge vessels worked out of Tarpon Springs, and along with eighty-four casual fish- ermen working with hooks in shallow water, produced 35,500 pounds of wool sponges (and a small quantity of other varieties) worth $261,500. It is doubted that SCUBA divers would find it profitable to harvest sponges at the present level of sponge abundance. |
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| Q&A 11. | I have heard of a type of sponge that destroys water-dwelling bacteria in large amounts. Can you direct me to further information? Huntington Station, New York |
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| The redbeard sponge, Microcionia prolifera, is able to use bacteria, notably E. coli, as food organisms and can filter these organisms out of sea water. Further information can be obtained by reading "Removal of Microbial Pollutants from Waste Effluents by the Redbeard Sponge" in the November 18, 1967 issue of Nature (London). |
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| Q&A 12. | Does the sponge, Callyspongia plicifem, contain a toxin that severely irritates the eyes when it directly or indirectly comes in contact with them? A friend of mine experienced temporary blindness after recovering a specimen similar to this species, and then inadvertently rubbing his eyes before cleaning his hands. Sylva, North Carolina |
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| To the best of our knowledge, no toxicological studies have been carried out on Callyspongiacplicifera. Aqueous extracts of the related species C. vaginalis have been proven to be toxic when injected into laboratory animals; however, there have been no reports of contact dermatitis resulting from handling this common shallow-water sponge. |
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| Q&A 13. | I hope that you will not cancel my membership for sending you the enclosed odoriferous specimen that I found on the beach at Sanibel Island, Florida. Is it a sponge? Sacramento, California |
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| The specimen that you sent to us is the sponge Cliona caribboea. The many species of the genus Cliona are noted for their destructive habit of boring or excavating limestone rock, corals, or shells. Most species of Cliona remain embedded within the confines of the object being riddled and, until the object is ultimately destroyed, the sponge's presence is noted only by the porous nature and unnatural color of the inhabited object. These colors are often brilliant shades of orange, red, or yellow. People often collect such beautifully colored rocks or shells only to have them fade and become unpleasantly odoriferous after the sponge dies. Some species of Cliona, however, have an unpleasant odor even while living. Unlike most species of Cliona, C. caribboea often grows up out of its burrows to become a massive sponge, which is more or less cylindrical, although sometimes branching, in shape. It is this massive form that you found at Sanibel. One of the services provided by the IOF is the identification of specimens of marine algae, fishes, and invertebrates; however, sometimes specimens arrive in our mail in such a deteriorated, odoriferous condition that they have to be discarded immediately. It is strongly recommended, therefore, that all specimens be preserved in rubbing alcohol in a suitable container before they are mailed to the IOF for identification. |
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| Q&A 14. | How are sponges preserved? Juno Beach, Florida |
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| For ideal preservation of an entire sponge or a portion of it, the specimen should be placed in 95-percent alcohol for a few hours, after which it should be removed, drained, and stored permanently in 70-percent alcohol. This generally is impractical in mass collecting of animals during scientific expeditions, and sponges are often preserved quite well without the initial soaking in 95- percent alcohol. Colors persist longer in some species than in others, but all bright colors are eventually lost. If commercial species are to be cleaned and preserved as dry specimens for personal use, the sponges should never be allowed to become dry until the cleaning process is completed, nor should they ever be placed in a preservative. This cleaning process is at best unpleasant, and some would-be sponge cleaners have given up, rather than contend with the associated odors. The dead sponges must be kept wet, preferably with saltwater, and covered with wet burlap if aboard a vessel or on the shore, or in protected areas they may be left lying in shallow water. When decay of the tissue begins, the sponges should be squeezed and rinsed repeatedly until, after several days, all matter of decay is gone. Pounding the sponges and throwing them against the deck of the vessel aids in removing the tissue. Remaining traces of tissue on the outer surface may be scraped off with a knife. Prolonged rotting will greatly weaken the fibers of the sponge. |
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| Q&A 15. | In 1900, my father brought some Venus's flower baskets from the Philippine Islands. One is complete with the creature inside. Can you provide information about this sponge and its inhabitant? Winter Haven, Florida |
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| The Venus's flower basket (Euplectella aspergi/lum), or watering can I sponge, has a towerlike, cylindrical body formed of a latticework of glasslike spicules. These skeletal elements, formed of nearly pure opaline silica, consist of longitudinal, circular, and oblique components. Because of its appearance, it is called a glass sponge. It is often host to a pair of isopod crustaceans, as described in "Life on the Deep-Sea Floor," Sea Frontiers, Vol. 10, No.4, September 1964. The two isopods squeeze through the interstices of the skeletal network in their early stages and, as they grow, are trapped inside, thus spending the rest of their lives within the sponge. A Venus's flower basket, with a pair of "permanently married" isopods, is often used by the Japanese as a symbolic wedding gift. Glass sponges (class Hyalospongiae; formerly Hexactinellida) range between 10 and 30 centimeters in height, although some species may reach 1 meter. Their main distribution is at depths ranging from 500 to 1,000 meters, although the famous Euplecte//a-bottom in Sagami Bay (Japan) is at a depth of only 150 to 300 meters, and species of the genera Holascus and Caulophacus may be found in waters 3,000 to 5,000 meters deep. |
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| Q&A 16. | For years, I have been buying loofa sponges, thinking that they were the dried remains of a sponge. Recently, I heard that they are actually the dried remains of a gourd. Which is true? Gloucester, Massachusetts |
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| Luffa (or loofa) is the fruit of any plant of the genus Luffa in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae. Luffa is also known as the dishcloth gourd, rag gourd, or vegetable sponge, since the fibrous interior of the dried fruit may be used as a sponge. |
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| Q&A 17. | What is the effect of a red-tide outbreak on sponges? Lebanon, Pennsylvania |
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| Because they lack a central nervous system, sponges are unaffected by the neurotoxins associated with red-tide blooms. Also unaffected are horseshoe crabs and bivalved mollusks, the nervous systems of which are quite primitive. On the other hand, higher marine animals with more complex nervous systems, such as the larger gastropod mollusks, polychaete worms, crustaceans, and fishes, are highly susceptible to the neurotoxins produced by dinoflagellates responsible for red tides. |
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| Q&A 18. | While walking on the beach at Fire Island, New York at low tide, I found a considerable number of flat yellow objects. As you can see from the enclosed specimens, they are oval in shape, about 4 to 5 inches long, and roughly 1/4 inch thick. The texture of the objects is like smooth cardboard, and no visible openings can be seen. What are they? Sayville, New York |
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| The dried objects you sent to us most closely resemble fig sponges (Suberites ficus), which inhabit the subtidal zone from the Arctic south possibly to Virginia. Living fig sponges possess a smooth liverlike surface and relatively few and inconspicuous openings. They generally grow attached to bivalve shells at depths of 50 feet or more but, occasionally, they break loose and are washed ashore. Fig sponges are so common on the fishing grounds of Block Island Sound that, due to their shape and clogging of nets, local fishermen contemptuously refer to them as "elephant dung." A distinctive feature of fig sponges is that their siliceous spicules include tylostyles-spicules that are pointed at one end and knobbed at the other. These spicules can be easily observed under a microscope after the organic spongin material is dissolved with a little bleach. |
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| Q&A 19. | Are there sponge farms in operation at this time? Chevy Chase, Maryland |
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| To the best of our knowledge, there currently are no large-scale commercial sponge-culture operations, although demand for natural sponges continues to be greater than the supply. Natural sponges are more absorbent and heat resistant than synthetic sponges and, in a variety of specialized applications, such as use in hospitals and for insulation in rockets, cannot be replaced by synthetics. In spite of this, sponge culture has been an uncertain business. In the Bahamas, the Florida Keys, and the South Pacific, sponge farming has been tried with mixed success. While the technical difficulties were overcome, the operations suffered major losses from disease, poaching, and vandalism. The major problems facing such an enterprise are obtaining exclusive control of suitable habitats for sponge cultivation and substantial start-up costs. In the most common method, wired sponge cuttings are attached to concrete disks via a perforation and placed in a suitable shallow environment with clean, flowing seawater. In the three to four years before the first harvest, a commercial farm would have to invest in the labor necessary to place hundreds of thousands of these disks on the sea bottom. In addition, the farm might require seven to ten years to make a profit. Over such a long period of time, thepance of sponge disease and the high labor costs involved make sponge culture in the United States a risky business. In less-developed countries with lower labor costs, the proven techniques of sponge culture, combined with the high demand for natural sponges, might make farming of these animals practical. |
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| Q&A 20. | While diving at a depth of 30 feet off the British Virgin Islands, I saw a 1-inch tangled ball of branchlets on a sea whip. Could the ball-like knot have been the intertwined arms of a basket star? Port Edwards, Wisconsin |
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| Based on your description, you almost certainly saw one of the basket stars in the family Gorgonocephalidae. During the day, these echinoderms frequently hide among the rocks, sponges, hard corals (scleractinians), and horny corals (gorgonians) of a tropical reef. At night, basket stars spread out their finely branched arms to feed. When they hide on a sea whip, or other branched gorgonian, basket stars usually form a tight knot of arms and gorgonian that only they can untangle, when they are ready to feed or move on. |
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| Q&A 21. | How does a sponge digest its food? Plantation, Florida |
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| Sponges are filter feeders and extract both detritus and plankton from water currents that flow through them. In simple sponges, choanocytes, or collar cells, line the spongocoel- the internal cavity of a sponge. In more complex sponges, the choanocytes are confined to a system of branching cavities, called radial canals, created by the folding of the body wall. Each collar cell possesses a whiplike flagellum that beats and thereby produces water flow through the sponge. As this occurs, the cells engulf the food particles that adhere to their surfaces. After being engulfed by the collar cells, the food particles may be digested directly or transferred to another type of cell, termed an amoebocyte, for digestion. In some instances, amoebocytes may engulf food particles directly. Nutrients from the digested food may then be passed on to other cells of the sponge. |
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| Q&A 22. | Is it possible to keep marine sponges in a home aquarium? Providence, Rhode Island |
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| Yes. Some species of sponges do well in aquariums, particularly those in the genera Clatbria, Petrosia, Craterispongia, Desmacidon, Haliclona, and Halichondria. Even these sponges, however, are extremely sensitive to changes in water quality and to excessive particulate material suspended in the aquarium water. Sponges are filter feeders, so their diet in captivity may include finely ground food such as that used to feed juvenile brine shrimp. Some sponges contain symbiotic single-celled algae, known as zooxanthellae, that provide an additional food source. These sponges need exposure to an intense light source. Those without zooxanthellae do well in dimmer light where they are less likely to be overgrown by macroalgae. Sponges shouldn't be kept in the same aquarium with sponge-eating reef fishes such as the rock beauty ( Holacanthus tricolor), queen angelfish (Holacanthus ciliarus), and French angelfish (Pomacanthus paru). Sponges should remain attached to their original substrates. The dangerous fire sponge (Tedania) should, of course, not be kept in a home aquarium. |
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| Q&A 23. | I always thought that my loofa sponges were cleaned and dried sea animals. Now, a friend tells me that they are the dried remains of a gourd. Which is true? Cleveland, Ohio |
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| Your loofa sponge comes from the fibrous interior of the dried fruit of a plant in the genus Luffa. The fruit, or luffah, also is known as the dishcloth gourd, rag gourd, or vegetable sponge. Certain tropical marine sponges have skeletons composed of spongin, a fibrous material that makes a good bath sponge. In Florida waters, these include the sheepswool, yellow, Key grass, and Gulf grass sponges. Other commercially valuable species inhabit warm waters in the Mediterranean Sea and the Bahamas. |
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Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science Library
University of Miami, FL USA 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149 Phone: 305 421 4060 Fax: 305 421 9306 E-mail: libcirc@rsmas.miami.edu |
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