Clathria prolifera

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Clathria prolifera
Red Beard Sponge (Clathria prolifera) (16133310360).jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Porifera
Class: Demospongiae
Order: Poecilosclerida
Family: Microcionidae
Genus: Clathria
Subgenus:
Clathria (Clathria)
Species:
C. (Clathria) prolifera
Binomial name
Clathria (Clathria) prolifera
(Ellis & Solander, 1786) [1]
Synonyms [1]
List
  • Clathria delicata Lambe, 1896
  • Clathria prolifera (Ellis & Solander, 1786)
  • Microciona prolifera (Ellis & Solander, 1786)
  • Spongia ostracina Rafinesque, 1818
  • Spongia prolifera Ellis & Solander, 1786
  • Spongia urceolata Desor, 1851

Clathria prolifera, commonly known as red beard sponge, is a species of sea sponge in the family Microcionidae. It is native to shallow water habitats in the western Atlantic Ocean from Prince Edward Island southwards to Florida and Mexico, and possibly Brazil. In the twentieth century it also became established on the west coast of the United States.

In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined.

Family is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy; it is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as being the "walnut family".

Microcionidae family of sponges

Microcionidae is a family of marine demosponges.

Contents

Description

Clathria prolifera has an encrusting base that may be up to 20 cm (8 in) across but less than 3 mm (0.12 in) thick. It forms bushy masses up to 20 cm (8 in) tall of orange or red branches up to 6 mm (0.24 in) thick. These resemble fingers, or may join together to form fan-like or drapery-like folded sheets. The spongy surface is covered with minute pores through which water is drawn into the sponge. [2]

Distribution and habitat

This sponge was first described by the British naturalist John Ellis and the Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander from New Jersey in 1786. It is found on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island southwards to Florida, Mexico and Brazil. However, in the southern part of this range it may in fact be a different species. [1] It was first recorded in the eastern Pacific Ocean in San Francisco Bay, California, in the 1940s, in Willapa Bay, Washington State in 1967, and in Humboldt Bay, California, in 1989. [2] It may have arrived in the Pacific as a fouling organism on a vessel's hull or as part of a shipment of oyster spat. [3] It grows on the underside of rocks and boulders in the intertidal and subtidal zones, on docks and quays, and in oyster beds. It is found in estuaries, bays and harbours where it can survive in waters with salinities as low as 15 ppt. [2]

A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species which have been described previously or are related. The species description often contains photographs or other illustrations of the type material and states in which museums it has been deposited. The publication in which the species is described gives the new species a formal scientific name. Some 1.9 million species have been identified and described, out of some 8.7 million that may actually exist. Millions more have become extinct.

John Ellis (naturalist) naturalist

John Ellis was a British linen merchant and naturalist. Ellis was the first to have a published written description of the Venus flytrap and its botanical name.

Daniel Solander Swedish botanist

Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university-educated scientist to set foot on Australian soil.

Ecology

Like other sponges, Clathria prolifera draws in water through its pores and filters out planktonic particles on which it feeds. [4] Larvae are released in the summer and autumn, at first they rise to the surface but after a day or so they sink to the bottom and crawl across the substrate until they find suitable locations for settlement. The juvenile sponges are encrusting at first. [2]

Plankton Organisms that live in the water column and are incapable of swimming against a current

Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that live in large bodies of water and are unable to swim against a current. The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. They provide a crucial source of food to many small and large aquatic organisms, such as bivalves, fish and whales.

Clathria prolifera is sometimes used as a model organism. Samples gathered from Chesapeake Bay housed a diverse assemblage of bacteria including proteobacteria, bacteroidetes, actinobacteria and cyanobacteria that was different to the bacteria in the surrounding water. After the sponge had been grown in aquaculture for six months, the composition of the associated bacteria had changed significantly. [5]

Model organism Organisms used to study biology across species

A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Model organisms are widely used to research human disease when human experimentation would be unfeasible or unethical. This strategy is made possible by the common descent of all living organisms, and the conservation of metabolic and developmental pathways and genetic material over the course of evolution.

Chesapeake Bay An estuary in the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia

The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary in the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula with its mouth located between Cape Henry and Cape Charles. With its northern portion in Maryland and the southern part in Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay is a very important feature for the ecology and economy of those two states, as well as others. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the Bay's 64,299-square-mile (166,534 km2) drainage basin, which covers parts of six states and all of Washington, D.C.

Proteobacteria phylum of Gram-negative bacteria

Proteobacteria is a major phylum of gram-negative bacteria. They include a wide variety of pathogens, such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibrio, Helicobacter, Yersinia, Legionellales and many other notable genera. Others are free-living (non-parasitic) and include many of the bacteria responsible for nitrogen fixation.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 van Soest, Rob (2015). "Clathria (Clathria) prolifera (Ellis & Solander, 1786)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cohen, Andrew N. (1 September 2011). "Clathria prolifera (Ellis & Solander, 1786)". The Exotics Guide: Non-native Marine Species of the North American Pacific Coast. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Brooks, George (2002). "Clathria prolifera (Ellis & Solander, 1786)". Animal Images: San Francisco Bay. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  4. ↑ Ruppert, Edward E.; Fox, Richard, S.; Barnes, Robert D. (2004). Invertebrate Zoology, 7th edition. Cengage Learning. p. 87. ISBN   978-81-315-0104-7.
  5. ↑ Isaacs, L.T.; Kan, J.; Nguyen, L.; Videau, P.; Anderson, M.A.; Wright, T.L.; Hill R.T. (2009). "Comparison of the bacterial communities of wild and captive sponge Clathria prolifera from the Chesapeake Bay". Marine Biotechnology. 11 (6): 758–770. doi:10.1007/s10126-009-9192-3.
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