(Image: MBARI)
To a shrimp, the delicate fronds of this sponge probably look like a pleasant place to settle 鈥� if it doesn鈥檛 spot the microscopic hooks that cover their surface like Velcro. If the crustacean is snagged, in a few hours the sponge鈥檚 cells start to engulf and digest it. After several days, all that is left is an empty shell.
Most sea sponges feed on single-celled organisms, which they filter from water that they flush through their bodies by flicking whip-like tails. But four new species of carnivorous sponge discovered on the deep sea floor along the west coast of North America, including Asbestopluma monticola pictured above, have developed a taste for a heartier meal. And it鈥檚 a good strategy, says marine biologist of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, California, a member of the team that found them: keeping your tails wagging takes a lot of energy and in the deepest parts of the ocean, pickings are slim.
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Although these four species are new to science, carnivorous sponges are likely to have been around for some time. Similar microscopic hooks have been found in Jurassic sediment, suggesting that such meat-hungry beasts have been stalking the seas for at least 200 million years.
Journal reference: Zootaxa, DOI:
