Facts about sponges biology. Why are sea sponges fished for? Class Coral sponges

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come to the conclusion that the common sea sponge is the first animal on Earth. Genetic analysis has shown that sponges are the source of organic molecules found in rocks 640 million years old. /website/

It was previously believed that the first types of animals arose on the planet at the time Cambrian Explosion, that is, about 540 million years ago. In the sediments of the Precambrian period, fossil remains of animals were extremely rare. However, a new study has shown that sea sponges existed 100 million years earlier.

American scientists have been working with molecular fossils - the lipid 24-isopropylcholestane found in rocks from Oman. The age of the lipid was 640 million years. Scientists knew that it was produced by some modern algae and sponges. However, genetic analysis has shown that sponges are the source of the ancient lipid. While the sponges began to produce this gene, all the surrounding organisms had not even formed yet.

Thus, it turned out that sea sponges are the oldest representatives of the animal world. However, they still live to this day.

Sea sponges are one of the most mysterious representatives of the animal world that scientists have to work with. At the same time, they are so primitive that at first biologists mistook sponges for plants. These animals, having departed from the main path of evolution, seem truly immortal.

These marine life are unlike any other. They are unable to move, so they lead a "sedentary" lifestyle. At the same time, sponges are practically invulnerable - they can be rubbed through a sieve, after which its particles will again gather into a new viable body. In addition, sponges practically do not get sick.

Scientists have also found that sponges like to eat well. They absorb up to two-thirds of their own weight daily. At the same time, the dimensions of the sponge do not change, although according to calculations it turns out that its mass should constantly increase. The study showed that the cells inside the sponge intensively exfoliate from the walls. Such a molt helps the lips not to gain weight.

Sponges do not have a mouth. They take food not through a hole in the body, but by straining sea ​​water. Water enters the pores of the sponge, leaving there organic matter which are the food of the animal.

In total, there are about 5 thousand species of sponges in the world. More than 300 of them live in the seas of Russia. At the same time, there are also freshwater sponges that live in rivers and lakes. They love clean water and can serve as an indicator of the purity of the reservoir.

Sponges(Spongia) is a phylum of invertebrates. Sponges are probably descended from colonial collared flagellar protozoa, forming a blind branch at the base of the metazoan phylogenetic tree.

Sponges originated in the Precambrian (approximately 1 billion 200 million years ago!, That is, they are very ancient organisms), they reached their greatest prosperity in the Mesozoic.

Sponges are predominantly marine organisms, not many are freshwater. Outwardly, sponges are even difficult to mistake for animals. They sit completely motionless, attached to the substrate, and do not react to irritation in any way. Sponges are more often colonial organisms, but solitary ones are also found. To the touch, the sponges are firm, hard. Freshwater badyagi are gray or greenish, but sea sponges are often brightly colored. Coloring depends on the presence of pigment cells. Many sponges have a specific unpleasant taste and smell, so they are not edible and no one touches them.

Sponges are distinguished by an extremely primitive organization. Their body does not have any symmetry, it shapeless. Inside the goblet or sac-shaped body (a few mm to 1.5 m or more in height) of a typical sponge is paragastric cavity opening at the top estuarine hole. Sponges do not have real organs and tissues, but their body consists of a variety of cellular elements. On the surface of the body are flat cells - pinacocytes, from the inside, the paragastric cavity is lined with flagellated collar cells, or choanocytes. Between the layer of pinacocytes and the layer of choanocytes lies a structureless substance - mesoglea containing amoebocytes, collencites, scleroblasts and other cells. There are many sponges on the surface of the body since leading to channels penetrating the walls of the body. Depending on the degree of development of the canal system, the localization of choanocytes and the flagellar chambers formed by them, 3 types of sponge structure are distinguished: ascon, Seacon and leukone.

Almost all Sponges have skeleton, formed by siliceous or calcareous needles, in horny sponges, the skeleton consists of the protein substance of spongin.

The vital activity of sponges is associated with continuous straining through the body of water, which, due to the beating of the flagella of many choanocytes, enters the pores and, having passed through the system of channels, flagellar chambers and the paragastric cavity, exits through the mouth. With water, food particles (detritus, protozoa, diatoms, bacteria, etc.) enter the sponge and metabolic products are removed. Food capture is carried out by choanocytes and canal wall cells.

Most sponges - hermaphrodites. A larva develops from an egg - parenchymula, or amphiblastula, which comes out, swims, then settles to the bottom and turns into a young sponge. During metamorphosis, a process characteristic only of sponges, the so-called perversions germinal leaflets, in which the cells of the outer layer migrate inward, and the cells of the inner layer are on the surface. In addition, sponges have widespread budding and education gemmul- Varieties of asexual reproduction.

All sponges, as mentioned earlier, are aquatic, mainly marine colonial, less often solitary animals leading a motionless lifestyle. They are found from the coastal zone and almost to the maximum depths of the ocean, the most diverse and numerous on the shelf (the shelf is a flat, not deep zone of the seabed). In northern and Far Eastern seas more than 300 species of sponges live in our country, about 30 species in the Black Sea, and 1 species of sponges in the Caspian Sea. In total, about 2500 species have been described so far.

Sponge type is divided into 4 classes. The classification of sponges is based on the structure of the skeleton.

Class 1. Ordinary sponges(Demospongiae). In these sponges, the skeleton is formed by uniaxial or four-beam flint needles. Channel system of leukonoid type. Usually colonial, rarely solitary forms, predominantly marine forms. This most numerous class of modern sponges is represented by 2 orders: Silicon-horned and Four-beam sponges.

In silicon-horned sponges, the skeleton consists of siliceous uniaxial needles and organic matter - spongin or from spongy fibers alone, forming a mesh, less often tree-branched support of the body. Basically, these are colonial forms that look like crusty or cushion-like growths, unevenly overgrown lumps, plates, or various kinds of tubular, funnel-shaped, stalked, bushy and other formations, up to 0.5 m or more in height. The cream-horned sponges include the known to us badyagi and several types Toiletries sponges. Toilet sponges are used for toilet, medical and technical purposes. The fishing of these sponges is developed in the Mediterranean and Red Seas, off the coast of about. Madagascar, Philippines, in Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The most valued is the so-called Greek sponge(Euspongia officinalis).

In four-beam sponges, the body is spherical, ovoid, goblet-shaped, cushion-shaped, usually up to 0.5 m high. The skeleton is formed by flint, usually four-beam (hence the name) or their derivatives - uniaxial needles located radially in the body. Also colonial, rarely solitary forms. They live mainly to a depth of 400 m. The four-beam sponges include the family Drilling jaws, or klions. These sponges are able to make moves inside any calcareous substrate, leaving rounded holes with a diameter of about 1 mm on its surface. It is believed that the drilling mechanism is due to the simultaneous action of carbon dioxide secreted by the surface cells of drilling sponges and the contractile efforts of these cells. About 20 species, mainly in shallow waters of warm seas. In our country - 3 types, in Japanese, Black, White and Barents Seas. These sponges dangerous pests oyster jars.

Class 2. Lime sponges(Calcispongiae). The skeleton of these sponges is formed by three-, four-beam and uniaxial needles of calcium carbonate. The body is often barrel-shaped or tubular. The only class of sponges in which sponges with all 3 types of channel system are marked. Lime sponges are small solitary (up to 7 cm high) or colonial organisms. Over 100 species distributed exclusively in the seas temperate latitudes, mainly in shallow water. Representatives Seacon, Sikandra, Leukandra, asceta.

Class 3. Coral sponges(Sclerospongiae). colonial sponges. The width of the colonies is up to 1 m, the height is 0.5 m. They are known from the Mesozoic. The skeleton consists of a basal mass of aragonite or calcite and uniaxial siliceous needles. Living tissue covers only a thin layer (about 1-2 mm thick) on the surface of coral sponges. Channel system of leukonoid type. Only 10 species live in shallow water among the coral reefs of the West Indies, the western parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans, in the Mediterranean Sea and off about. Madeira.

Class 4. Glass sponges, or Six-beam sponges (Hyalospongia, or Hexactinellida). Known since the Cambrian. The most diverse and numerous were in the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era. Skeleton of flint six-beam needles (or their derivatives) with rays lying in three mutually perpendicular planes. Mostly solitary, bag-shaped, tubular, goblet-shaped or barrel-shaped forms, up to 1.5 m high. About 500 species. Oceanic organisms that usually live at depths of over 100 m. Glass sponges are very beautiful and are used as decorations. For example, a sponge basket of Venus, euplektella, hyalonema.

We present to you Interesting Facts about sea sponges

The famous "washcloth", which we use every day for bathing, got its name precisely because of this. sea ​​creature. Most of them are suitable exclusively for these purposes.

Thanks to numerous studies conducted on these creatures, it was revealed that they belong to underwater world animals. Before the village, they were called zoophytes - a kind of transitional stage between plants and animals.

Sponges inhabit large families, each of them is a unicellular representative. Therefore, you can see them only as a single "society", consisting of 5-12 such single ones.

Depending on what kind of skeleton sponges have, they are divided into three classes: calcareous, glass and ordinary. In the photo below - glass.

Did you know that in ancient times, sponges were very popular in medicine? So, they could be used as a gauze mask and stop bleeding.

Did you know that it depends on these animals how clean the reservoir will be?

In the depths of the water, they are doing a good deed - they pass it through themselves, leaving all the lime inside their body.

Do you know how many sponges it takes to produce modern world? More than 300 thousand tons. Of these marine organisms, besides washcloths for swimming and baths, they also make helmets and stuffing material for construction.

In America, sponges are used in car washes about 95% of 100%.

Did you know that sponges love to eat well? On average, they eat about 2/3 of their own body weight.

Did you know that the first drug that was created to treat cancer - cytosine arabinoside, was derived from the body of these animals?

By the way, in the absence of blood circulation, digestion, nervous system and generally integral organs, sponges can sneeze.

In the deep waters of the ocean, sponges can live for about 200 years. But only if they are not eaten by dolphins - for these animals, sponges play the role of "preventive treatment" from the dirt and bacteria of their stomach.

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Sponges- animals, but they are more like some plants than animals. They grow on underwater objects such as rocks or plant stems. These creatures cannot move, although some species can shrink when touched. They do not have eyes, ears, brain and nerves, heart and blood. But they catch their food by filtering the water that enters them through thousands of tiny openings and exits from one large one called a mouth. Adult sponges are attached to the substrate, but their larvae are able to actively swim. The larvae find a suitable place, descend and grow into an adult colony of cells, which we call a sponge.

The small ones grow around the mouth of the sponge, the main outlet for water. Branched channels are visible inside the sponge.
Various types of cupped sponges grow in fresh and salt water.
Sponge sea loaf may be different color, including green. The hymenial sponge is usually blood red. Some Solenia sponges are also red in color. Columnar lips may be purple or blue. Sponge Callispongia is quite wide, with one mouth. Brain sponges are pink.

A typical formed sponge is not a single individual, more often it is a colony. Sponge cells form a flask-shaped body around the central cavity. The walls of the body are pierced by many tiny holes and channels leading from the outer holes to the inner cavity. The flagella of the cells lining the channels create a flow of water in them directed to the central cavity. Water brings with it tiny particles of food - protozoa, pieces of algae, eggs and larvae. Water and undigested residues exit through the mouth, a large opening usually located at the top of the sponge.

Purely!
In an hour, a large sponge can filter the volume of water equal to the volume of the bath. Sponges are indispensable components of aquatic ecosystems, keeping water clean.

Toilet sponges.
Nowadays, most sponges for washing are made from artificial materials. But many years ago they were collected at sea. An ordinary toilet sponge lives at the bottom of the sea in a clean warm water. It is rather slippery, yellow or purple in color. After death, its soft parts rot, and a skeleton of fibers and needles remains, which people used as a washcloth. In some areas, such as the Mediterranean, toilet sponges were collected in such quantities that they became extremely rare. But it takes about 20 years for a sponge to grow.

How do sponges reproduce?
Sponges are able to form small specific outgrowths, or buds, on the body, which then separate and develop into a new individual. But they also have sexual reproduction. Each sponge is both a male and a female, that is, it produces both spermatozoa and eggs. The spermatozoa fertilize the eggs, and they develop into tiny larvae that spread out. Two or three days they are in the open sea, then sink to the bottom and develop into a new sponge.

How do sponges survive?
Sponges have no means of protection. They don't know how to bite or sting. They cannot swim. How do they protect themselves? The body of many sponges has many tiny, sharp needles of hard minerals such as lime, chalk, or silica (the same substance that makes up glass). The needles form the sponge's skeleton, give its body strength, and keep animals that would like to feast on the sponge at a distance. In addition, many species are bad smell and a terrible taste that deters predators.

Lamellar.
lamellar includes only one species - Trichoplax adhaerens.
These small creatures, reaching the size of an ant, resemble giant amoebas, but their body consists of more than 1000 cells. Lamellar slowly flow, moving like. Only two species are known, and both live in the sea.

Sponges
About 10,000 species
Most are marine, only a few are freshwater
Many have an internal hard skeleton
Body riddled with holes
Some reach 4 m

lamellar
Just a few types
Marine life
Move like slugs or giant amoebas
About 3 mm long

Natural washcloths are the most useful for humans. They are mainly made from various plants, but there is an exception to this rule. Meet Sea Sponge Washcloths!

The habitat of natural sponges is the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea. They are very beautiful and mysterious. It seems strange, but they are alive! Yes! The most real! Scientists have classified them in the animal kingdom.

Sponges do not have true tissues, they lack muscle, nerve and digestive system. Sea sponges are hermaphrodites and reproduce both sexually and by budding. These cuties are real predators, they feed on small animals when they filter water through their bodies.

The shape of the sponges resembles a glass or a bowl. Natural sponges, from which washcloths are made, are dark gray in color. When they dry out, they turn yellow or brown.

The amazing properties of sponges have allowed people to use them for commercial purposes. Yes, it is from the skeletons of these animals that toilet (bath) sponges are made.

Natural sea sponge

Main advantage sea ​​sponge- surprising softness and tenderness of a washcloth in contact with the skin. If you are a fan of dispersing blood well with a washcloth, then these bath accessories will not suit you at all.

But for small children, whose skin is very delicate, such a washcloth will be at the right time. Sea sponges do not cause skin irritation, allergies and other troubles. They are designed for gentle care and intimate hygiene.

Lovers of rich foam - this is the washcloth for you! In addition, natural sponges so gently stroke the body that they involuntarily soothe and relax.

Very often, with improper care of natural washcloths, various bacteria and microorganisms settle in them. But they are reluctant to find refuge in sea sponges, for two reasons:

1. Sponges dry very well and quickly, thanks to the porous structure of the body.
2. In the skeletons of sponges, repellent properties for microorganisms are preserved.

For this reason, sponges are one of the most useful natural washcloths. Of course, there are also disadvantages to such washcloths.

The service life of natural sea sponges rarely reaches a year, and the price is not acceptable for everyone.

The high cost is due to the fact that sponges grow rather slowly. It takes about 40 years to make a sponge of decent size. Just imagine, this is a good half of human life!

Also, the price of the goods directly depends on the special processing, which consists of several stages.

First, the sponges are cut from their roots. Then they remove possible garbage from the sea, it can be pebbles, shells, and so on ...

The next stage of processing is the sorting of sponges by size and quality. After that, they are subjected to an acid treatment, which disinfects them and brightens them.

And the last stage of processing is sunbathing. Sponges are dried in the sun until they finally become natural washcloths.

It remains to add that all the work is done almost by hand. In addition, large volumes of harvesting of marine sponges have significantly reduced their population. 🙁

However, one cannot refuse natural product. After all, natural is much better than any chemistry. Use sea sponge washcloths, have fun, good luck to you! 🙂