The cloud sponge ''(Aphrocallistes vastus)'', also known as the quesadilla sponge, is a species of
sea sponge
Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and are o ...
in the class
Hexactinellida
Hexactinellid sponges are sponges with a skeleton made of four- and/or six-pointed siliceous spicules, often referred to as glass sponges. They are usually classified along with other sponges in the phylum Porifera, but some researchers conside ...
.
It is a deep-water
reef-forming animal. The species was first described by F.E. Schulze in 1886.
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Description
The cloud sponge takes the form of a large cup with an irregularly folded wall about thick. This is pierced by many pores about wide and covered by a thin dermal membrane. The skeletal elements form a lattice-like structure made up of fused spicules of silica
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant f ...
. These mesh together and project into the adjoining canals. There is a fir-tree like concentration of spicules running through the body wall with the branches either having rounded or knobbly ends.
The form of the sponge varies according to the location in which it is found. The quesadilla sponge's common name derives from a morphological variation first observed in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
Distribution
The cloud sponge is found in the northern Pacific Ocean. Its range includes Japan, Siberia, the Aleutian Islands and the west coast of North America from Alaska southwards to California and Mexico.[ It is a reef-building species found in deep waters on the western Canadian shelf growing on sediment-free rocks. It grows and is more easily studied in fiords off the coast of British Columbia at depths of only .][
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Ecology
The cloud sponge is one of several species of glass sponge that form slow growing reefs in deep water. Their skeletons create habitat for diverse communities of invertebrate
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s and fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
. Its body is primarily made of biogenic silica (>90%) which is of no nutritional value yet dorid nudibranchs ('' Diaulula lentiginosa'' and '' Doris odhneri'') have been shown to engorge themselves with cloud sponge.[
]
See also
* Hexactinellid sponges (glass sponges)
* Sponge reef
Sponge reefs are reefs produced by sea sponges. All modern sponge reefs are formed by hexactinellid sponges, which have an endoskeleton made of silica spicules and are often referred to as "glass sponges", while historically the non-spicule ...
* Sponge Reef Project
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2195904
Hexactinellida