MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) | Watch a glass sponge sneeze on the deep seafloor! @MBARIvideo | Uploaded February 2020 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
You might think that deep-sea sponges would be about as active as the one sitting in your kitchen sink. But when it comes to motion at the bottom of the ocean, there is more than meets the eye. This deep-sea glass sponge appears to "sneeze" over the course of 3 days. Such behavior has never before been seen in glass sponges, which contain skeletal structures made of silica glass. Although their name might imply that glass sponges are brittle and fragile, the glass structures in their bodies, called spicules, are assembled much like scaffolding—overlapping and resting on one another, but not fused together. By changing how much the pieces overlap, the sponges can contract or expand.
This video shows a time-lapse view of a small patch of muddy seafloor, 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) below the ocean surface, at a deep-sea research site called Station M. Researchers at MBARI have studied the animal communities at Station M for over 30 years. These photos were taken every hour over a few months, showing the expansion and contraction of the glass sponge, Hyalonema sp.1, which resembles a blooming tulip.
Learn more: mbari.org/secret-lives-of-sponges
This amazing behavior, along with many other interesting deep seafloor animal behaviors, was documented in this publication:
Kahn, A. S., C.W. Pennelly, P.R. McGill, and S.P. Leys (2020). Behaviors of sessile benthic animals in the abyssal northeast Pacific ocean. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 104729. doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104729
Learn more about MBARi resaerch at Station M: mbari.org/station-m-time-series
You might think that deep-sea sponges would be about as active as the one sitting in your kitchen sink. But when it comes to motion at the bottom of the ocean, there is more than meets the eye. This deep-sea glass sponge appears to "sneeze" over the course of 3 days. Such behavior has never before been seen in glass sponges, which contain skeletal structures made of silica glass. Although their name might imply that glass sponges are brittle and fragile, the glass structures in their bodies, called spicules, are assembled much like scaffolding—overlapping and resting on one another, but not fused together. By changing how much the pieces overlap, the sponges can contract or expand.
This video shows a time-lapse view of a small patch of muddy seafloor, 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) below the ocean surface, at a deep-sea research site called Station M. Researchers at MBARI have studied the animal communities at Station M for over 30 years. These photos were taken every hour over a few months, showing the expansion and contraction of the glass sponge, Hyalonema sp.1, which resembles a blooming tulip.
Learn more: mbari.org/secret-lives-of-sponges
This amazing behavior, along with many other interesting deep seafloor animal behaviors, was documented in this publication:
Kahn, A. S., C.W. Pennelly, P.R. McGill, and S.P. Leys (2020). Behaviors of sessile benthic animals in the abyssal northeast Pacific ocean. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 104729. doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2019.104729
Learn more about MBARi resaerch at Station M: mbari.org/station-m-time-series
