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Sea Sponges movement in the Arctic Ocean Seafloor

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Environment
  • Published
    10th May, 2021

A new study has upended the assumption that the sponges are immovable. The study has pushed and prodded the scientific thought into a new direction.

Context

A new study has upended the assumption that the sponges are immovable. The study has pushed and prodded the scientific thought into a new direction.

About the key findings

  • Species: The main species in the region were identified as Geodia parva, G. hentscheli, and Stelletta rhaphidiophora.
  • Finding: The study found the sea sponges were appeared to be crawling uphill and even on top of each other.
  • The study found that sea sponges made limited movements by expanding and contracting their bodies in a laboratory setting.
  • It is found for the first time that sea sponges drifted and rolled across the seafloor in the northeast Pacific Ocean.
  • The larvae of the sea sponge are known to be mobile and the adults have generally been believed to be sessile, or immobile.
    • They lack muscles or other specialized organs that would help them get around.
  • Reason: No exact reason for their movement has been given yet.
    • The researchers hypothesize that the sponges are moving to find food or to disperse juveniles.
  • Significance: The study has opened the new vistas of study towards this phylum.

Sea Sponges,

  • These are the members of the phylum Porifera.
  • They are Diplobastic means their germ layer is divided in two layers that is ectoderm and endoderm.
  • They are multicellular organisms.
  • There bodies are full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them.
  • Sponges do not have nervous, digestive or circulatory systems.
  • They rely on maintaining a constant water flow through their bodies to obtain food and oxygen and to remove wastes.
  • All sponges are sessile aquatic animals, which means that they attach to an underwater surface and remain fixed in place. 
  • Many sponges have internal skeletons of spongin and/or spicules made up of calcium carbonate or silicon dioxide.
  • The study of sponges is known as spongiology.

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