Big Bank Shoals of the Timor Sea
An environmental resource atlas

FILTER-FEEDING ECOSYSTEMS

Biology and ecology of sponges

Ecology of sponges

The sedentary lifestyle of sponges precludes them from actively evading predators themselves. The main predators of marine sponges are nudibranchs commonly called sea slugs. Although fish, turtles and other invertebrates also feed on them. Sponges appear to evade high levels of predation by incorporating an array of noxious chemicals as a defence mechanism (see also the section on Halimeda defence, pages 23-24). These biologically active compounds are also known to be used offensively in the competition for space with other benthic invertebrates. This sort of competition is not, however, universally applied. Commensal and symbiotic relationships involving sponges are extremely common.

Shrimp, crabs, holothurians, worms, molluscs and other animals are known to habituate the interior cavities of many sponges. In fact, 17128 animals have been counted in a sponge the size of a washtub. These mainly comprised a single variety of shrimp, although a considerable variety of other species were also found in this sponge including a number of slender fish. At the microscopic level, many species of bacteria can live within sponges and may, in fact, be the origin of the toxic chemicals used by the sponge for defence.

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Last updated - 1 September 98

Copyright ©1996-1998 Australian Institute of Marine Science

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