However, recent research using the Tanaka indeterminate growth model to estimate the age of several individuals shows that giant barrel sponges can live more than 2000 years. The oldest known individual was found off the coast of Curacao; it was that to be approximately 2300 years old. Threats to giant barrel sponges include vessel groundings, marine debris, and sponge orange band (SOB) disease. Giant barrel sponges are filter feeders. An individual may filter up to 50,000 times its own volume of water everyday. Choanocytes lining the inner chambers of the sponge filter out bacteria-sized food particles. Food particles are then transported to the mesohyl, where archeocytes are responsible for processing food particles for energy. The predators of giant barrel sponges fishes, turtles, nudibranchs, and echinoids. Sponges that have been bleached of cyanobacteria are particularly vulnerable to damage by parrotfish. These animals primarily protect themselves from fish predation by chemical defenses, including secondary metabolites such as such as sterols, terpenoids, amino acid derivatives, saponins, and macrolides. In the Florida Keys, giant barrel sponges are synergistically defended with microscopic glass-like rods called
However, recent research using the Tanaka indeterminate growth model to estimate the age of several individuals shows that giant barrel sponges can live more than 2000 years. The oldest known individual was found off the coast of Curacao; it was that to be approximately 2300 years old. Threats to giant barrel sponges include vessel groundings, marine debris, and sponge orange band (SOB) disease. Giant barrel sponges are filter feeders. An individual may filter up to 50,000 times its own volume of water everyday. Choanocytes lining the inner chambers of the sponge filter out bacteria-sized food particles. Food particles are then transported to the mesohyl, where archeocytes are responsible for processing food particles for energy. The predators of giant barrel sponges fishes, turtles, nudibranchs, and echinoids. Sponges that have been bleached of cyanobacteria are particularly vulnerable to damage by parrotfish. These animals primarily protect themselves from fish predation by chemical defenses, including secondary metabolites such as such as sterols, terpenoids, amino acid derivatives, saponins, and macrolides. In the Florida Keys, giant barrel sponges are synergistically defended with microscopic glass-like rods called