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There are no known predators of healthy reef sponges. [6] This is likely because the sponges possess very little organic tissue; the siliceous skeleton accounts for 90% of the sponge body weight. [5] Hexasterophoran sponges have spicules called hexactines that have six rays set at right angles.
One of the most common structural strategies that sponges have that prevents them from being consumed by predators is by having spicules. If a sponge contains spicules along with organic compounds, the likelihood of those sponges being consumed by spongivores decrease. [10] Sponges have also developed aposematism to help avoid predation ...
Cliona celata, occasionally called the boring sponge, is a species of demosponge belonging the family Clionaidae. [1] It is found worldwide. This sponge bores round holes up to 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter in limestone or the shells of molluscs, especially oysters. The sponge itself is often visible as a rather featureless yellow or ...
Sponges may also contract in order to reduce the area that is vulnerable to attack by predators. In cases where two sponges are fused, for example if there is a large but still unseparated bud, these contraction waves slowly become coordinated in both of the "Siamese twins".
The sponges form reefs (called sponge reefs) off the coast of British Columbia, southeast Alaska and Washington state, [15] which are studied in the Sponge Reef Project. In the case of Sarostegia oculata, this species almost always hosts symbiotic zoanthids, which cause the hexactinellid sponge to imitate the appearance and structure of coral ...
Researchers say young fish might need healthy coral to learn when to hide from predators, putting those in the dying Great Barrier Reef at risk. Dying coral reefs are killing fish by masking their ...
Aplysina cauliformis, also known as the row pore rope sponge or rope sponge, is a species of sea sponge in the family Aplysinidae. [3] It is commonly found in shallow reefs across the tropical Atlantic Ocean , including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico . [ 4 ]
Synalpheus regalis is a species of snapping shrimp that commonly live in sponges in the coral reefs along the tropical West Atlantic. [3] [4] They form a prominent component of the diverse marine cryptofauna of the region. [3] For the span of their entire lives, they live in the internal canals of the host sponge, using it as a food resource ...