CARNIVOROUS SPONGES

Citation
J. Vacelet et N. Bouryesnault, CARNIVOROUS SPONGES, Nature, 373(6512), 1995, pp. 333-335
Citations number
20
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Journal title
NatureACNP
ISSN journal
00280836
Volume
373
Issue
6512
Year of publication
1995
Pages
333 - 335
Database
ISI
SICI code
0028-0836(1995)373:6512<333:CS>2.0.ZU;2-K
Abstract
EXTREMELY food-poor environments, such as the deep sea, place extraord inary demands on organisms with respect to feeding, resulting in modif ications of the feeding strategies found in shallow waters. A general rule is that macrophagy becomes a better strategy than microphagous su spension-feeding(1-3). The characteristics by which phyla are defined, nonetheless; remain unchanged in these adaptations. We present here a n apparently unique example of a fundamentally different body plan, de rived from a pre-existing phylum, occurring in deep-sea sponges. We de monstrate that the Cladorhizidae have evolved carnivory and capture sm all crustaceans by means of filaments provided with raised hook-shaped spicules. This adaptation to a food-poor deep-sea environment has res ulted in the loss of the diagnostic characteristics of the phylum Pori fera: an aquiferous system and choanocytes.