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Limnobium laevigatum is a floating aquatic plant, which can be mistaken for water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) due to their superficial similarity.Juvenile plants grow in rosettes of floating leaves that lie prostrate upon the water surface, a distinguishing character of the juvenile plant is the presence of spongy aerenchyma tissue upon the abaxial surface (underside) of the leaf.
A spongivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating animals of the phylum Porifera, commonly called sea sponges, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their diet, spongivore animals like the hawksbill turtle have developed sharp, narrow bird-like beak that allows them to reach within crevices on the reef to ...
Turtles and some fish feed mainly on sponges. It is often said that sponges produce chemical defenses against such predators. [18] However, experiments have been unable to establish a relationship between the toxicity of chemicals produced by sponges and how they taste to fish, which would diminish the usefulness of chemical defenses as deterrents.
Most species are generalist predators, eating microalgae, sponges, bivalves, snails and other small animals. [24] [58] The crown-of-thorns starfish consumes coral polyps, [59] while other species are detritivores, feeding on decomposing organic material and faecal matter.
On Caribbean coral reefs, angelfishes primarily eat sponges, and have an important role in preventing the overgrowth of reef-building corals by eating faster-growing sponge species. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Most marine angelfishes restrict themselves to the shallows of the reef, seldom venturing deeper than 50 m (160 ft).
The golden zoanthid (Parazoanthus swiftii), a colonial coral, is often found twined round the sponge in a symbiotic relationship. The polyps look like small sea anemones and contain toxins which deter predatory fish from eating the sponge. [5]
Chondrocladia lyra, also known as the lyre sponge or harp sponge, is a species of carnivorous deep-sea sponge first discovered off the Californian coast living at depths of 10,800–11,500 feet (3,300–3,500 m) by Welton L. Lee, Henry M Reiswig, William C. Austin, and Lonny Lundsten from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
The fruit bodies reach dimensions of 10 cm (3.9 in) wide by 7 cm (2.8 in) tall. Like a sponge, they will resume their original shape if water is squeezed out. The spores, produced on the surfaces of the hollows of the sponge, are almond-shaped with rough surfaces, and measure 10‑12.5 μm by 6‑7 μm.