Sponges on Conch Reef by Barbora Misakova

Imagine you are living all alone under the water. Your only place to stay is a school-bus-sized metal tube and all your fellows are just fishes and sponges of Conch Reef, what is more than three miles off the coast of Florida. Are you scared of this idea? Then you will admire Chris Finelli, scientist who monitors these sponges and who has stayed under the surface for more than a week. But do not worry he is not actually all alone. Finelli, along with several UNCW grad students and technicians, has been living deep under water for nine days now. The Aquarius, where they are all staying, is the only seafloor laboratory and habitat in the world owned by the National Oceanic an! d Atmospheric Administration. Thanks to Aquarius, ocean researchers can conduct much longer dives than are possible from a boat. Research concentrates on giant barrel sponges – bottom-dwelling filter-feeders. They were recently revealed to be among the oldest living organisms on the planet. What is the most fascinating on them is the fact they can grow up to 20 feet (6 meters) across and live up to 2,000 years! So what are they for? All sponges, doesn’t matter how enormous or old they are, play important role in maintaining water quality. They also provide a home for diverse creatures. As sponges are leading a silent battle for supremacy against algae, the team is trying to find out who is actually winning. Although Finelli’s team discovered a huge number of young sponges, it is still not clear whether the total amount of sponge biomass is increasing or not.

related story (sgx18082): http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100826/sc_livescience/...

by Barbora Misakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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