Hello and welcome to another extremely exciting fact.
As of THIS MONTH we have discovered three new species of CARNIVOROUS SEA SPONGES (quaking) and they are called Nullarbora heptaxia, Abyssocladia oxyasters and Lycopodina hystrix. So we’re gonna appreciate some sponges and how cool they are.
Okay so sponges are some of the oldest bods about and have existed for pretty much, in some form or other, for the last 500 million years (and you thought you were old). One of the reasons they"ve been around this long is because their biologically pretty simple. They are normally multicellular and made up of holey tissues that allows water to flow through. Their cells can then remove the oxygen and nutrients from this water, allowing them to filter feed .
What’s pretty cool is that sponges metabolise a lot of toxic chemical compounds put into the seawater by other animals, plants and microbes. But instead of just getting rid of those toxins they keep a lot of them for their own personal use and so are often seriously toxic. This makes sense — if you’re stuck on a rock and you can’t move it probably helps to be really fucking toxic so that stuff is less likely to eat you.
This is one of the reasons why they are so often targeted by the pharmaceutical industry (if you didn’t know). For example, dysinosin A is a compound that was discovered from the sponge Citronia sp , from the Great Barrier Reef and it inhibits some of our blood clotting enzymes (they’re called thrombin and Factor VIIa). That means that they could be used for treating human cardiovascular diseases like stroke and thrombosis. PRETTY COOL EH?
But in the deep sea — about 3,000m deep — things get a bit funky (as they so often do) I mean look at this goblin shark that has a mouth that just COMES OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE LIKE WHAT THE FUCK.
Anyways.
Some carnivorous sponges do still use this water filtering system, but some have abandoned it completely and actually nick little crustaceans and other prey out of the water using filamentsor hooks. They also look really much prettier than you would expect from a sponge. I mean look at this one that looks like a sassy flower.
Or this one that looks like those shitty earrings you used to be able to buy from Claire’s accessories.
The resemblance is uncanny no?
Hope you enjoyed!
Lots of love,
Flora