Spongilla lacustris | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Porifera |
Class: | Demospongiae |
Order: | Spongillida |
Family: | Spongillidae |
Genus: | Spongilla |
Species: | S. lacustris |
Binomial name | |
Spongilla lacustris | |
Synonyms | |
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Spongilla lacustris is a species of freshwater sponge from the family Spongillidae. It inhabits freshwater rivers and lakes, often growing under logs or rocks. Lacustris is a Latin word meaning "related to or associated with lakes". [1] The species ranges from North America to Europe and Asia. It is the most common freshwater sponge in central Europe. [2] It is the most widespread sponge in Northern Britain, and is one of the most common species of sponges in lakes and canals. [3] Spongilla lacustris have the ability to reproduce both sexually and asexually. They become dormant during winter. The growth form ranges from encrusting, to digitate, to branched, depending upon the quality of the habitat. [4]
Spongilla lacustris is part of the class demosponges of the phylum Porifera. The Porifera phylum contains all sponges which are characterized by the small pores on the outer layer, which take in water. The cells in the sponge walls filter food from the water. Whatever is not uptaken by the sponge is pumped through the body out of a large opening. The class demosponges are the most abundant and diverse of the sponge classes. Some of the sponges in this class have skeletons made from silicon-containing spicules, spongin fibers, or both. Demosponges include both marine and freshwater sponges. [5]
Freshwater sponges reproduce both sexually and asexually, exhibiting two methods of asexual reproduction: by gemmules and by budding.
Gemmules: Gemmules are elaborate, highly-resistant resting stages formed by freshwater sponges. Gemmules can be produced at any time during the growing season, but most production occurs in the autumn, triggered by seasonal changes in light and temperature. They form by migration of food-filled archaeocytes, also called amoebocytes, into discrete masses. This archaeocyte core becomes enveloped in several different hardened membrane layers, forming a shell. Gemmules are able to withstand repeated freezing and thawing, desiccation and prolonged darkness. When environmental conditions improve and water temperature exceeds 13 to 23 °C, germination occurs and the young sponge leaves its shell and starts a new animal.
Budding: The second asexual method is budding. This occurs in springtime when the sponge forms buds in its outer layer. These will eventually drift away from the original structure to form a new colony.
Sexual: The summer is when sexual reproduction occurs. These freshwater sponges are hermaphroditic, meaning that each sponge produces both sperm and egg. The sperm are released into the water where they will travel into another sponge's ostia. The sponge subsequently gives birth to live, free-swimming larvae after developing in the sponge's inner cavity.
Spongilla lacustris are freshwater sponges that prefer shallow, clear waters. They are commonly found in ponds, lakes, and slow-moving waters. They can be found both protected from the sun under rocks and logs, and on reeds and on rocks where there is more exposure.
Spongilla lacustris are filter eaters that consume small floating organic particles. They are consumed by Sisyridae, a group of winged insects also known as sponge flies or spongillaflies. Their larvae act as parasites on the sponge and feed exclusively on it during its larval period. Ceraclea are insects that not only feed on the sponges but will use the sponges' spicules to build hard, protective cases for themselves. [6] As the larva grows, it not only adds spicules to its casing but pieces of the sponge itself. When the ceraclea reaches adulthood and leaves the sponge, it carries and disburses fragments, thus facilitating the formation of new sponge colonies.
Spongilla lacustris can appear in several forms, including branching, clump-like, or crust. On average, the sponge grows to be a few inches in length. The color ranges from white to green, depending on the amount of zoochlorella, a green algal tissue, available. The algal tissue has a symbiotic relationship with the freshwater sponge. The algae help facilitate oxygen and food uptake for the sponge, while the sponge provides the algae a surface to live on.
The texture of the sponge itself is soft. The ostia (dermal pores) let water into the sponge to be filtered. The oscula is the hole from which water exits. Although the oscula is bigger than the ostia, both are extremely small and difficult to see. Spicules cover the thin dermal membrane, although the texture of the sponge itself is soft. The spicules are made of silica and provide structural support as well as protection. Freshwater sponge spicules come in many sizes and forms, including microscleres, emmula microscleres, and parenchyma macroscleres. [7]
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera, are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them, consisting of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells.
The calcareoussponges are members of the animal phylum Porifera, the cellular sponges. They are characterized by spicules made of calcium carbonate, in the form of high-magnesium calcite or aragonite. While the spicules in most species are triradiate, some species may possess two- or four-pointed spicules. Unlike other sponges, calcareans lack microscleres, tiny spicules which reinforce the flesh. In addition, their spicules develop from the outside-in, mineralizing within a hollow organic sheath.
The Venus' flower basket is a glass sponge in the phylum Porifera. It is a marine sponge found in the deep waters of the Pacific ocean, usually at depths below 500 meters. Like other sponges, they feed by filtering sea water to capture plankton and marine snow. Similar to other glass sponges, they build their skeletons out of silica, which forms a unique lattice structure of spicules. The sponges are usually between 10 cm and 30 cm tall, and their bodies act as refuge for their mutualist shrimp partners. This body structure is of great interest in materials science as the optical and mechanical properties are in some ways superior to man-made materials. Little is known regarding their reproduction habits, however fluid dynamics of their body structure likely influence reproduction and it is hypothesized that they may be hermaphroditic.
Demosponges (Demospongiae) are the most diverse class in the phylum Porifera. They include 76.2% of all species of sponges with nearly 8,800 species worldwide. They are sponges with a soft body that covers a hard, often massive skeleton made of calcium carbonate, either aragonite or calcite. They are predominantly leuconoid in structure. Their "skeletons" are made of spicules consisting of fibers of the protein spongin, the mineral silica, or both. Where spicules of silica are present, they have a different shape from those in the otherwise similar glass sponges. Some species, in particular from the Antarctic, obtain the silica for spicule building from the ingestion of siliceous diatoms.
The siliceous sponges form a major group of the phylum Porifera, consisting of classes Demospongiae and Hexactinellida. They are characterized by spicules made out of silicon dioxide, unlike calcareous sponges.
Suberites domuncula is a species of sea sponge belonging to the family Suberitidae.
Anheteromeyenia argyrosperma is a freshwater sponge found across North America.
Arturia canariensis, commonly known as the yellow calcareous sponge, is a species of sponge in the family Clathrinidae. It is found in shallow seas in the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, the Adriatic Sea and the Caribbean Sea. The specific epiphet "canariensis" was given to this species because it was first described from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.
Spicules are structural elements found in most sponges. The meshing of many spicules serves as the sponge's skeleton and thus it provides structural support and potentially defense against predators.
Spongia officinalis, better known as a variety of bath sponge, is a commercially used sea sponge. Individuals grow in large lobes with small openings and are formed by a mesh of primary and secondary fibers. It is light grey to black in color. It is found throughout the Mediterranean Sea up to 100 meters deep on rocky or sandy surfaces.
Radiospongilla sceptroides is a species of freshwater sponge in the family Spongillidae. It was described as Spongilla sceptroides by Scottish-born Australian zoologist William A. Haswell in 1883, who discovered it growing on submerged wood in a pond in the vicinity of Brisbane. He described it as "Sponge green, encrusting, smooth, moderately elastic, not crumbling." He noted the spicules were fusiform and pointed. It was found growing next to a yellowish freshwater sponge that he described as Spongilla botryoides. A 1968 review of freshwater sponges failed to locate Haswell's original type specimen, so a new one was selected from the Merrika River near Womboyn in New South Wales.
Suberites ficus is a species of sponge in the family Suberitidae. It is sometimes known as the sea orange sponge.
Homaxinella balfourensis is a species of sea sponge in the family Suberitidae. It is found in the seas around Antarctica and can grow in two forms, either branching out in one plane like a fan or forming an upright club-like structure.
Callyspongia truncata is a species of marine sea sponge. Like all marine sponges, C. truncata is a member of phylum Porifera and is defined by its filter-feeding lifestyle and flagellated choanocytes, or collar cells, that allow for water movement and feeding. It is a species of demosponge and a member of Demospongiae, the largest class of sponges as well as the family Callyspongiidae. C. truncata is most well known for being the organism from which the polyketide Callystatin A was identified. Callystatin A is a polyketide natural product from the leptomycin family of antibiotics. It was first isolated in 1997 from this organism, which was collected from the Goto Islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture of Japan by the Kobayashi group. Recent studies have revealed numerous other bioactive compounds that have been found in this species.
Biemna variantia is a species of sponge in the family Biemnidae. It is native to the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. This species was first described in 1858 by the British naturalist James Scott Bowerbank, who gave it the name Halichondria variantia. It was later moved to the genus Biemna and is the type species of the genus. The type locality is Tenby, Wales.
Hymeniacidon kitchingi is a species of sponge in the class Demospongiae. It is found in shallow waters in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. This species was first described in 1935 by the British zoologist Maurice Burton. He placed it in a new genus because of its unusual spicules, and named it Rhaphidostyla kitchingi, in honour of Dr J. A. Kitching, who had collected the original specimen. It was later transferred to the genus Hymeniacidon.
Dysidea etheria, commonly known as the ethereal sponge or heavenly sponge, is a species of lobate sponge within the class Demospongiae. This marine sponge is known for its light blue color and can be found in the Caribbean as well as off the coasts of Florida and Georgia. Like all other poriferans, D. etheria is capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction. The use of spicule collection as well as chemical defenses allows D. etheria to protect itself against predators such as the zebra doris and the orange knobby star. D. etheria is also known as a host species of the invasive brittle star Ophiothela mirabilis. Lastly, various molecular biology studies have utilized D. etheria to both study foreign particle transport in sponges and to isolate novel molecules.
Calcifibrospongiidae is a family of sponges belonging to the order Haplosclerida. The order Haplosclerida is distinguished by isodictyal skeleton. In general, Porifera are basal animals with bodies full of pores and channels. Calcifibrospongiidae includes the species Calcifibrospongia actinostromarioides. There have only been ten recorded occurrences of this species: in Hogsty Reef and San Salvador, as well as in the subtropics of the Bahamas.
Oscarella tuberculata is a species of sponge in the order Homosclerophorida. It is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, where it forms encrusting colonies on rocks and other hard surfaces.