Absorbent and yellow and … mobile? Sea sponges on the move in Arctic Ocean
A new study suggests that sea sponges are moving across the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean, which challenges the idea that these creatures are primarily immobile.
Previous research has shown that sponges can make limited movements in a laboratory setting, but this is the first time sea sponge trails have been observed in the ocean and attributed to sponge movement.
The researchers hypothesize that the sponges are moving to find food or disperse juveniles, although further research is needed before conclusions can be drawn.
Sea sponges don’t move. At least, that’s what a lot of people used to think about these aquatic invertebrates. But a new study has upended this assumption, and pushed and prodded scientific thought into a new direction.
The last creature you d expect left mysterious trails on the ocean floor: We ve never had evidence of it like this before mcall.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mcall.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
shapes that stray from sight;
strategies of survival
and shattered sentiments.
Trails left by sponges as they crawl across the seafloor (Image Credit: AWI OFOBS team, PS101).
This poem is inspired by research, which has found that sponges leave trails on the sea floor in the Arctic deep sea.
A sponge is a simple animal with many cells, but no mouth, muscles, heart, or brain. The basic body plan of a sponge is a jelly-like layer sandwiched between two thin layers of cells, and there are over 10,000 species of sponge, most of which live in the ocean and feed on bacteria and other microorganisms, although a few of them also eat tiny crustaceans. Adult marine sponges are usually thought to be stationary, picking a spot on the seafloor while still in their larval stage and sticking to it. Lacking muscles to move around, they are generally referred to as ‘sessile’ (i.e. fixed in one place), as opposed to ‘motile’ (i.e. capable of motion) marine creatures. However, new research
Guess Which Creature Made Mysterious Trails on the Ocean Floor
Something with no legs, no feet and no skeleton is crawling around down there, scientists say.
Video
Sponge spicule trails on the Arctic seafloor, captured by the research icebreaker Polarstern in 2016. Video by AWI OFOBS TEAM, PS101
By Marion Renault
April 30, 2021
Deep-sea sponges are not known for their mobility. After all, they lack muscles, nervous systems and organs. And forget about fins or feet for traveling the Arctic seafloor.
But new research suggests these ancient life-forms can and do, indeed, get around and far more than marine biologists believed. By studying hundreds of photos and videos of Arctic sponges, scientists from Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology discovered a vast web of trails several feet long left in the creatures’ roaming wake.
The last creature you d expect left mysterious trails on the ocean floor: We ve never had evidence of it like this before chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.