Bread crumb sponge
| Bread crumb sponge | ||||||||||||
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Breadcrumb Sponge ( Halichondria panicea ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Halichondria panicea | ||||||||||||
| Pallas , 1766 |
The breadcrumb sponge ( Halichondria panicea ) is a sponge species from the class of horned silica sponges (Demospongiae) and belongs to the family of Halichondriidae . It occurs frequently in the coastal areas of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean, from the height of the Wadden Sea down to a depth of over 550 meters. It can exist in a wide variety of coastal habitats and corresponding conditions, in strong currents, high salinity and also in areas with strong seas. He lives on hard substrate or gravel soils.
morphology
The sponge comes in a variety of forms and can be difficult to identify . Some shapes have a grainy surface, which gives them their trivial name , but the surface can also be smooth or even glassy. It often has pores that can continue inward in tubes in wave-protected habitats. Their shape is determined very much by the surrounding habitat: exposed to waves, Halichondria panicea forms thin, flat "leaves", while more protected forms often form thick encrustations up to 20 cm thick. This diversity led to the fact that this species was led under the names of 56 different species.
The color also varies. The breadcrumb sponge is "naturally" cream-colored or gray: this color is usually found in specimens at a rather great depth. At shallower depths, however, the color of the sponge changes more and more to green due to symbiotic algae . At medium depths, the breadcrumb sponge tends to be green in summer and cream or gray in winter. Its smell is similar to that of ignited gunpowder .
Nutrition and reproduction
Halichondria panicea is a filter feeder that feeds primarily on phytoplankton . Despite being such a widespread species, relatively little is known about how it reproduces: it appears to be hermaphrodite . The oogenesis running reportedly in a given population in a very short time off, although exceptions were observed.
Web links
- Taxonomic page in the World Porifera Database
Individual evidence
- ^ FAZ article on taxonomy
- ↑ news.bbc.co.uk BBC article