Nature and more
A collection of images showing the wonders of nature.
Through this blog you can appreciate biodiversity, wildlife, landscape, geology and mineralogy worldwide as well as artistic expressions of nature and some oddities.
-
The Azure Vase Sponge - a sponge that compensates its lack of chemical defenses
Callyspongia plicifera (Porifera - Demospongiae - Haplosclerida - Callyspongiidae), better known as the Azure Vase Sponge, is one of the most colorful sponges in the world. Its color ranges from pink to purple to a fluorescent light blue.
Sponges are conspicuous members of the reef community and, as sessile softbodied animals, appear to be vulnerable to predation. So, there are some sponge species that produce chemical defenses, while others do not and are non-fatally grazed by predatory fishes.
The Azure Vase Sponge is one of that sponges that lack of chemical defenses, however it has been demonstrated that this species, and so other chemically undefended species, compensate for fish grazing by allocating resources to rapid wound-healing.
While the evolutionary pressure imposed by predation seems to have driven these alternative interspecific strategies, evidence for optimization of the use of chemical defenses within sponge species are surprisingly lacking.
This amazing sponges can be found in coral reefs in the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and Florida.
Photo credit: ©Peter Nijenhuis | Locality: Salt City, Hoop, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles (Caribbean)
