A Salute to Sponges that don't wear Square Pants
Posted By Abigail Smigel on 15 December 2004
There seems to be a trend as of late involving sponges and a large amount of air time on TV. Contradictory to what you might imagine, most of the attention has been focused on one sponge in particular. Not one species, but one particular sponge. Are you ready kids? It's that absorbent and porous and yellow guy named Spongebob. He seems to be everywhere these days, including, and not limited to items such as boxes of cheese crackers, Band-aids, pillows, Pop-tarts and shockingly, underwear.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the little guy, but I am here to bring a little fact to the farcity about sponges. True, without the help of a side-kick Starfish and some spongey misadventures I don't think a half hour of sponge factoids would capture a roomful of fourth-graders the way Spongebob does. But I do believe that some of these factoids will leave you in awe of our porous friends.
Here are the top 5 reasons to appreciate Sponges that don't wear square pants:
1. Scientists believe that sponges were the first animals ever!
2. They have mastered the ability to mate without moving a muscle
3. One of the few critters that can smoke underwater
4. They've got more pores than a 13 year-old boy
5. They don't have an annoying laugh
Silliness aside, sponges are actually cool critters. Their regenerative abilities should serve as case and point. For example, scientists have found that when the freshwater species of sponge, Ephydatia fluviatilis, is broken apart and then left alone, the separated pieces settle and eventually reorganize themselves into a near replica of the original adult sponge. This bit of weird science is primarily due to the fact that there are only six types of sponge cells, the major ones being choanocytes, pinacocytes, amoebocytes and lophocytes. Each one of these cells has its own specific function and additionally has functions in relation to other cells. With that smidgen of information, perhaps it is a bit more conceivable how this organism reorients its body parts once they've been separated. Essentially, a grouping of these cells is collectively referred to as a sponge.
Other interesting sponge behaviors to take note of include carnivory and locomotion. Yes, we're still on the topic of sponges. We'll start with carnivory as I can only imagine the images coming to mind. In 1994 a new species of sponge was discovered in a cave near Marseilles, France. The behavior that was particularly remarkable was the sponge's propensity for eating small crustaceans. Rather than simply filtering the water that passed through its body like most species, the sponge had adapted the ability to ensnare prey externally with its typically internal structural elements. These structural components, or spicules, act like Velcro to trap the prey and while other sponge cells slowly surround the organism and digest it.
While one would assume that most sponges are sessile creatures, one scientist in North Carolina observed locomotion in several freshwater species. He recorded migrations of up to 4 mm a day. While this is nothing to pull out a stopwatch for, it is something to take note of as most descriptions of the Phyla Porifera make some mention of the word sessile. You live and learn.
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