Hermit sponge
| Hermit sponge | ||||||||||
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Hermit sponge with Paguristes sp. |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Suberites domuncula | ||||||||||
| ( Olivi , 1792) |
The hermit sponge ( Suberites domuncula ) is a type of sponges and belongs to the class of horned silica sponges .
features
The hermit sponge forms elongated to almost spherical colonies that can grow up to 20 cm in size. Usually there are only one or a few large outflow openings. The color of the smooth surface is mostly orange-red, but also yellow or brown and rarely blue to purple.
Occurrence
The distribution area extends from the west coast of Great Britain and Ireland south to the Mediterranean. The sponge often grows on the snail shells of the muddy sandy soils that are populated by hermit crabs of the genus Paguristes . It is also found in seagrass meadows of the genus Zostera and in docks. It rarely occurs on rocks of the deeper hard floors.
ecology
The sponge often enters into a facultative symbiosis with hermit crabs of the genus Paguristes . Larvae and gemmulae of the sponge settle on the snail shells colonized by the crabs and develop into fully grown sponges. The sponge gains mobility and improves its nutritional situation. The hermit crab, on the other hand, is protected by the sponge and does not have to look for a new, larger house when molting. The dwelling cave for the hermit crab will continue to be built in the spirit of the snail shell.
Superficial crevices are often colonized by the flea shrimp Tritaeta gibbosa .
swell
- ↑ a b c d Rupert Riedl: Fauna and flora of the Mediterranean. Parey, Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-490-23418-9 .
- ^ Peter Wirtz, Helmut Debelius: Lower animals Mediterranean and Atlantic Hamburg. Jahr-Top-Special-Verlag, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-86132-681-7 .
- ↑ Robert Hofrichter (Ed.): The Mediterranean: Fauna, Flora, Ecology. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag 2001, ISBN 3-8274-1188-2 .
