We reached our goal!
Thank you to all of you for your support, because of you our research project on sponges and nutrient cycling on coral reefs is going to move forward! We are excited to get in the lab to start processing samples and generating lots of data! In the mean time though, we hope you enjoy some nice photos of sponges doing what they do best- filtering seawater and looking photogenic!
This is one of the most colorful sponges that you see on Caribbean reefs, Niphates digitalis. It is a delicate looking vase sponge and is a "low microbial abundance" (LMA) sponge, similar to the loggerhead sponge (Speciospongia vesparium) that is part of our study.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Jessica Jarett (Joint Genome Institute, CA)
Another common and photogenic sponge is known as the orange icing sponge, Mycale laevis, and is typically seen growing on flat surfaces of corals. Whether the relationship between the coral and sponge is mutualistic (both organisms benefit) or commensal (one or neither organisms benefit but neither is harmed) is not clear, but it seems to be a stable relationship. You can see the oscula that are elevated with white collars.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Jessica Jarett
The photo below is of the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta (a "high microbial abundance" (HMA) sponge) with a grouper hanging out inside, perhaps taking refuge or going after some food or may have found a cleaning station - a specific location where small shrimp clean the gills of fish that pass through the "station".
Photo courtesy of Dr. Jessica Jarett
Another X. muta sponge is shown below, this one is from a reef near Little Cayman Island was about as tall as me (5'5'')! Just imagine how much water a sponge this size must be pumping through its body! You can also see some small colorful fish just in front of the sponge.
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