The three species of glass sponges in Hecate Strait that are able to build reefs require an amazing amount of silica. 3 These skeletons remain intact long after the sponge itself dies, which has resulted in some reefs reaching heights of up to 20 m 4– the height of a six-storey building. Their intricate skeleton is further strengthened as they grow and touch other glass sponges gaining support from each other and creating the three- dimensional framework, which is called a reef. Cleverly, glass sponges also fuse the points on the spicules together, much like scaffolding, to create a lattice-like skeleton. The skeleton is made of silica, which the sponge forms into delicate needle-like structures called “spicules”. Glass sponges form a massive skeleton for structural support. These stringy clumps of mucus, basically the equivalent of sea sponge snot, were then expelled into the water column by a series of contractions and relaxations across the sponges’ surface.Left: Heterochone calyx growing on a pebble, Middle: Farrea occa and Aphrocallistes vastus settled on one another, Right: Glass spicules of Farrea occa (credit: Dr. These highways became junctions at specific elevated sections on the sponges' surface with the mucus forming stringy clumps. The video also shows that mucus is continually moving across the surface of the sea sponge, creating “mucus highways” that contain waste material. In the video, the sponge can be seen expelling particulate matter through its inlet pores.
Researchers recorded a time-lapse video of the stove-pipe sponge ( Aplysina archeri). These sponges move mucus, containing waste particles, against their internal flow of water out of their ostia and into the surrounding water column by a period of surface contractions – or “sneezing”. While marine experts have known about this behavior for a long time, new research published in the journal Current Biology has revealed a new waste disposal system.
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