Giant Barrel Sponges Research Paper

Giant Barrel Sponges are very unique animals. They are found in tropical areas in the Caribbean. They are benthic animals, living at depths from 10-30 m. They have the highest density cover and greatest volume of any organism living in their environment. If they are left undisturbed they can grow to massive sizes. Giant Barrel Sponges can come in many different colors also. Sponges don't move around they are stationary and stay in one place there whole life. Except when the sponges reproduce it starts to grow a bud and then eventually detach itself from the sponge. Giant Barrel Sponges can reproduces asexually or sexually. Reproduction occurs during a synchronized spawning event, eggs and sperm were released for approximately an hour. …show more content…
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