The amazing sponge!(Why do they matter?)

Fun Facts

• Sponges can trap 90 percent of all bacteria in the water they filter.

• Sponges can pump 10,000 times their own size (volume) in water in one day.

• A sponge the size of a gallon milk container could pump and clean enough water to fill a residential swimming pool in one day.

• In the Caribbean Sea, sponges might be able to filter all of the water in oneday.

www.stri.si.edu/sites/taxonomy_training/.../Sponges_eng_01.pdf

Symbiosis in Sponges

• What is symbiosis????• Two or more organisms whose relationships

are mutually beneficial.• Give me some examples for the sponge!

Symbiosis

• Algae living inside some sponges provide sugars to their host sponge. The sponge provides a safe home.

• Without sunlight, these sponges would die.• Within a single sponge, it is possible to find 16,000 other animals. Tiny shrimps and amphipods are particularly common in sponges.

www.stri.si.edu/sites/taxonomy_training/.../Sponges_eng_01.pdf

Chemical Warfare

• Many sponges have chemical defence mechanisms that help protect them against certain bacteria.

• They produce toxins or unpleasant tastes and odours that ward off predators or prevent coral overgrowth that could threaten the sponge's osculum or other systems

www.fattuesdayproductions.com/Sponges/Defense.ppt

When would a sponge use chemical defence?

• You tell me?• Spatial competition• Repel predators• Prevent infection of

wounds• Control bacterial levels

Chemical warfare-human uses• Sponges use chemicals to prevent other sponges from

growing near them.• Some sponges actually kill corals and destroy their

skeletons.• These chemicals can prevent cancer cells from growing.• One of the first drugs for treating cancer cytosine

arabinoside, was isolated from the sponge Tectitethya crypta.

• This drug is used today in chemotherapy to treat leukemia.

Brainstorm

• Why have sponges developed such a rich array of chemical defenses?

• Because they are sessile and cannot “run away” or otherwise deter predators or compete for space.

Species examination: Fire SpongeTedania ignis

Fire Sponge: Tedania ignis

• found in western Atlantic and Caribbean coastal waters.

• named for the burning sensation and rash it produces when touched

Fire coral wound

Habitat

• The range of T. ignis extends from Florida to Brazil, Bermuda and the Gulf of Mexico.

• Masses of the sponge can be found on rocks, dead coral, in seagrass beds and on the roots of the red mangrove

Community and ecology

• Little is known about the maximum age and average lifespan of T. ignis colonies.

• FeedingLike other sponges, T. ignis is a filter feeder. The sponge draws in water through incurrent pores using flagellated cells called choanocytes Suspended particles between 0.1 and 1.5 µm are taken in, mostly consisting of bacteria and other organic material.

• Predators:Although the color and chemical compounds of T. ignis appear to act as predation deterrents, a few species find the sponge palatable, including: parrotfish; the cushioned sea star, and the gray angelfish.

Human uses

• In 1984, a potent antitumor compound, known as tedanolide, was isolated from the fire sponge. Over the past 20 years, the growing interest in this chemical compound has prompted the total synthesis of tedanolide for use in clinical trials, no longer requiring the use of the sponge for compound production.

• ..\..\..\Lesson Videos\Biology 11\Deep Sea Discovery Could Cure Cancer.flv

http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Tedani_ignis.htm

Porifera

-Sponge

-Collar cells (with flagella) gather water into osculum- Ameobocyte cells produce spicules (CaCO3/ SiO2)-Spongin(fibre of protein)

No true tissues

-Filter feeder (current) -Endocytosis of food by collar cells, then pass onto amebocytes -Intracellular

-Current delivery O2 and carry away CO2

-Current delivery O2 and carry away waste

-Current carry away metabolic waste

-Sperm released into water flowing through sponge and carry into open water-Eggs kept inside body wall-Gemmules & budding (asexual)

-No nervous system-May release toxins

-Symbiotic with bacteria and protists-Clean up ocean floors

Phyla

Examples

Muscular & Skeletal

System/ Body Plan

Digestion/ Feeding

Circulation/

internal transport

Respiration Excretion Reproduction

Nervous/ Sensory/ Defense

Response

Other Interesti

ng Points