Sea Sponges

Mallory Anderson

Mrs. Reed

Science

Spring 2010

http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/SpongeBob-SquarePants-p74.jpg

Their Habitat• Sea Sponges grow in all

oceans in the world no matter what temperatures.

• They can be found hundreds of meters under sea, but mostly are found in 5-50 meters deep.

• Most sponges’ optimal pH is around 6.5 because the pH value of the sponge cellular fluid is 6.5.

• Some sponges can live in the outstanding temperatures and pressure.

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Physical Features• Sponges come in different striking

colors, bright red, purple, yellow, and brown, etc.

• These colors are toxic as well may help them defend from sponge eating invertebrates and some fishes.

• Sponges often have skeleton, which protect and give refuge to small invertebrates .

• Sponges have no tissues or organs, they are just constructed with layers of cells even without nervous system.

• Inside the sponge, the special cells circulate seawater through small pores and absorb planktons and small sea organisms.

http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/upload/2007/07/SpongeBob-standup.jpg

Types

• Aplysina• Location: Caribbean and Mediterranean; shallow rocky

substrates exposed to light (1-20m depth) • Xestospongia • Location: reef environments of Florida and the

Caribbean • Acanthella • Location: Caribbean and Australia • Halisarca • Location: Sea of Okhotsk and North Pacific (shallow

water)

Diversities

• Various microorganisms have been found in sponges.

• They include a range of green algae, heterotrophic bacteria, cyan bacteria, archaea, cryptophytes, red algae, din flagellates and diatoms. The symbiotic microbial community is a highly diverse society.

• One host sponge can possess different symbionts.

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Fun Facts

• A sponge is an animal and it wasn't up until 1765

that sponges were thought to be a plant.

• Sponges can contain 16,000 other animals

inside of it.• One of the largest

sponges ever was almost 10 feet wide.

• When a part of a sponge breaks off, the broken part will form a new

sponge. http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/SpongeBob-SquarePants-p35.jpg

Bibliography

• http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Marine_Sponge:_Sponge-Bacteria_Association

• http://www.infobarrel.com/10_Facts_About_Sponges